Database Design Tools: The Right Fit

Database  systems are essential tools for a business. Implementing a well though-out strategy can spell success for your company. A proper needs analysis should be done to identify the specific database management system or DBMS that fits with your requirements. Your needs can range from simple records like the list of your employees and their individual profiles, attendance records and payroll information to more complex transactions between you, vendors and distributors within your supply chain. The effectiveness of collecting, recording and retrieving various bits and bytes of this information depends on the DBMS you choose.

To identify the right DBMS that will best fit for your company’s needs, there are two general categories. The desktop database application and user interface and the server based database system. The desktop application caters to a single-user interface, hence the name desktop. On the other hand, server databases have mechanisms ensuring concurrency of data and are oriented for multiple-user applications. Between the two, the server based database requires more complex data visualization models due to the multiple users that may be interacting with the data at any one time. Nevertheless, when referring to function, desktop servers are very effective, user-friendly and are a less expensive database solution than designing entity relationship models for a SQL server  for example. Data modeling for Oracle 10g supports a directed and un-directed logical graph as part of Oracle Spatial Network Data Model.

Programmers in most computer languages are familiar with Boolean logic. A variable may be either true or false. Pervading SQL, however, is the alien idea of three-valued logic. A column can be true, false, or NULL. When building the data model you must affirmatively decide whether a NULL value will be permitted for a column and, if so, what it means.

Consult with an Expert Designer when Necessary

To obtain the most effective results, a consultation with an expert will help determine database design features  and should provide you with the best solution to fit your particular business needs. In some more complex situations the best solution is to design and build a custom DDL for your DBMS. Good database modeling software  will aid the designer generate script for a database model change for easier implementation of business changes. The most common database model being used by programmers that is suitable for most business enterprises’ needs is the relational model. It is a record-based model where the inputs are processed in what has been called the Entity-Relationship Diagram method.

Simple ERD diagram examples  such as this image reflect an ontology where an entity and its relationship are being categorized and classified. Using the right relational data analysis tools  a designer can reverse engineer more complex SQL server database diagram .

Conduct your due diligence thoroughly before selecting the db design tool  for your project. Being informed of the differences of each database design software on the market will help to avoid problems with your database system in the long run. Tools like the MySQL Workbench and RISE Editor (to name a few) communicates exclusively in their preferred programming language making it incompatible for other database servers. There are a number of prominentdatabase modeling software  that not only reliable and user-friendly but also compatibility with other database servers.