PS
Hi,
Currently my client requirement is capture data modeling for a specific application.
As per my understanding, it has to be captured via Process mapping(BPMN Model) and then create FAD where we create cluster and then map it to eERM model where that particular cluster will specify primary attribute, secondary attribute,etc.
I am not sure whether my understanding is correct or not. I have to capture how the data flows from the application and goes out of the application.
This is my first time I have to work on Data Modeling, so any help on this topic would be appreciated.
Thanks
Piyush
Hi Piyush,
data modelling has got little to do with BPMN. But BPMN allows data objects to be represented in process/collaboration diagrams. So you could also place the cluster directly in the process.
Think of the cluster as the "case file" that moves through the process from desk to desk. Then you understand, that it is not a normalized object but can contain an arbitrary amount of attributes in non-normalized form. Use Entity type objects in eERM or IE data models with eERM attribute allocation diagrams to sort the pieces (attributes) into normalized data models. That effort is independent of processes and ongoing as you model more and more processes.
If your focus is on the data model of a single application I doubt you need BPMN at all, because you are doing a technical data model valid only for the interfaces of the application. In BPMN processes you are looking at the integration between applications, so your data modelling effort will be concerned with creating a data model used for information interchange of multiple applications (company-wide?). That will differ from the interface data model of any application. You will want to map those data models on each other to specify the data mapping. Matrix models are useful for that.
Last but not least: You might take another step back and take a business point of view on the objects the business deals with. If you start with business requirements and objects (not the data describing the real objects) the business deals with, you get a good reference for a normative terminology for your technical integration data model.
Regards, M. Zschuckelt
