This was an opportunity I could not miss – a 2-hour presentation on modelling to an audience of database experts!
Starting with a brief look at using Visio and/or Excel for data modelling and governance, I talked about the extras we can gain by using PowerDesigner to design databases.
Of course, it’s not ‘just’ databases we’re concerned with, the relationships those databases have with our business and technical architecture is also important.
The next key topic is the role of Data Models and others (such as the Requirements model) in Governance and Design.
Next it’s mapping data sources and targets to demonstrate and create data lineage, showing how PowerDesigner supports multiple DBMS Versions (and what you can do to change how it does that), creating a CUBE for Business Objects, finally (almost) focusing on the support provided for SAP IQ.
Finally, I described some real-world uses of PowerDesigner.
Data Modeling
Please vote for your favourite data modelling tool, whatever it is #PowerDesigner #ERwin #Idera #ERStudio
The people at ERwin pay a lot more attention than some other vendors do to promoting their product, including asking their users to vote for them in various polls or awards. Currently they’re asking their users to vote for ERwin in the “Readers’ Choice Awards” for Database Trends and Applications.
The following data modelling tools are listed in the poll –
PremiumSoft Navicat Data Modeler, Dell Toad Data Modeler, IDERA ER/Studio, ERwin, TimeXtender, SAP PowerDesigner.
That’s an interesting selection of tools, partly due to the absence of any tool from IBM, and also because there are two I’ve barely even heard of.
Voting closes on May 20th, so make sure to vote for your favourite modelling tool, whatever it is. My message is the same as it is to every registered voter in the UK today (lots of elections on in the UK today) – cast your vote and be heard!
April 28th Sandhill webinar – What’s new with SAP #PowerDesigner Latest Edition V16.6
Join us for a webinar on Apr 28, 2016 at 2:00 PM EDT.
Register now!
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3620953847587697409
Strategic decisions are based on data. The quality of your data will greatly effect the quality of your decisions. A well informed decision, requires a 360º view of an organisation’s information assets.
Sandhill Consultants in conjunction with SAP will be hosting a webcast on the latest features and functionality within SAP PowerDesigner R16.x, including the most recent Edition R16.6.
Sandhill Consultants will also review the different Editions (Data Architect and Enterprise Architect) and the process of upgrading to the latest editions.
Key topics discussed in this Webinar
1. Understanding the differences between Data and Enterprise Architect Editions
2. Visualize the different model types, features and functionality
3. Review of the SAP PowerDesigner Repository
Don’t miss this opportunity to see SAP PowerDesigner in action and learn how SAP PowerDesigner can help your organization achieve a 360° view of its information assets
For more information on SAP PowerDesigner click on the link below:
http://www.sandhillconsultants.com/powerdesignereditions.asp
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
How about a #PowerDesigner day in Paris on Sept 21st? #PDDayEU
The SAP conferences are humungous affairs, with some content for those interested in using PowerDesigner, but I’m sure the majority of PowerDesigner users don’t get to those conferences. In the US, we now have a PowerDesigner track at the ISUG-TECH conference in Atlanta, though the equivalent annual conference in the UK has zero PowerDersigner content.
Morgan Stanley were kind enough to host a day of sessions for PowerDesigner users in London in 2013, and I’d like to see that repeated somewhere in mainland Europe
SAP are willing to host an event in Paris, but it’s taking a very long time to organise. Nothing will happen this month, it’s August in Paris, and the city is closed.
I think we should hold the event before Paris cools down for the winter, and avoid clashing with Data Modelling Zone, which is in Hamburg on September 28-29, and in the US the following week.
We have speaking offers from people from all over Europe who can talk about Data Vault, other Data Warehousing experience, Enterprise Architecture, HANA, and extending PowerDesigner. Other offers are still welcome.
My proposed date, which needs to be confirmed with SAP, is Monday September 21st. Please can you indicate whether or not this is a good date for you.
I’m going to blog and tweet about this, using the Twitter hashtag #PDDayEU. Please pass it on.
Thanks
Buying another company? Have you checked the data models? #datamodeling #ITintegration #M&A
There’s an apparently never-ending discussion of the role of data modelling. Is it an IT activity? Is it only about designing databases? My friend Chris Bradley has given numerous sessions on this (you can see one of them here), as have many others, so I don’t want to labour the point. I’d just like to focus on a possibly overlooked role for data models in mergers and acquisitions.
I heard a tale a few years back, of a foreign mortgage provider that bought a UK company that had a comprehensive enterprise data model. This was the first UK company that the foreign company had ever purchased, so I expect that they carried out a lot of research into the new market before deciding how much to pay for the acquisition, and how much effort would be involved in migrating the existing UK IT applications to their own platform. During that research, they ought to have taken a look at the enterprise data model and compared it with their own data models, assuming they had any, but did they?
Here’s where the tale gets interesting. The foreign company was used to a market with a simple view of mortgage accounts; each mortgage account only has a single product, making the interest and repayment calculation processes quite simple:
Unfortunately, a glance at the UK company’s enterprise data model would have revealed that their business processes and IT systems were much more complicated:
This is a simplified view of the data model, so it doesn’t look like there’s much difference at first. Look at the full data model and you’ll see that the UK mortgage account can include multiple products with different:
- start date
- maturity date
- interest rate %
- interest rate type (interest only or repayment)
The business processes for managing these accounts would be much more complex.
According to the tale, the foreign company had a modular component-based IT platform, and their projected cost savings were dependent on migrating the UK IT functionality to the existing components. Without the knowledge gained from looking at the data model, they may have seriously underestimated the amount of work needed to migrate mortgage accounts.
Within three months of the takeover, the new owners shut down the entire enterprise data modelling organisation – all the people, the data modelling tools, and the metadata repositories. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
