tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-332115522011-08-01T14:39:56.741+02:00This blog is created in order to stimulate discussion and the exchange of ideas about all sorts of subjects related to the fascinating world of data. I would like to use the blog for organizing my own thoughts and ideas, and for inviting other people who share an interest in the intriguing world of data to react on the postings. So please feel free to react and contribute! Disclaimer: This blog represents my own personal views, and not those of my employer or any third party.Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.comBlogger131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-54544019087442038282007-04-16T11:43:00.000+02:002007-04-17T20:25:34.735+02:00

To anyone who feels addressedIf you want a Holy GrailIf you’re still looking for that one single• application that will support all of your processes• database that will hold all of your data• communication standard that will empower all your communication channels• language that everyone will speak exclusively in order to exterminate all miscommunication• programming language that can

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-26584771138000849132007-03-19T22:08:00.000+01:002007-03-19T22:09:09.240+01:00

Some time ago an anonymous visitor showed interest in the relationship between a CDM and an external standard. I promised to come back to that subject. Here's my first attempt to try to explain this relationship.CDM Myth 2: External Standards in your CDMAn often heard idea about the creation of a CDM is that you can add the contents of a relevant external standard in your CDM just like that,

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-14967342606972272102007-03-19T21:03:00.001+01:002007-03-19T21:59:41.645+01:00

In modern IT, people are very busy doing systems integration and also, albeit a little less still, with canonical data models (CDM’s). The demands that customers, regulatory organizations and business partners impose on businesses nowadays cry for effective communication processes, internal as well as external, and a flexible IT.A CDM can help you meet these demands. A critical condition for

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1169038943820129392007-01-17T13:50:00.000+01:002007-01-17T14:15:06.686+01:00

In earlier blog postings, I’ve argued that in order to enable powerful appliances for a canonical data model, it will have to contain semantic data descriptions next to the mere technical formatting descriptions that can be found in almost any data model. This idea has yet to become commonplace. One cause for our reluctance to incorporate semantic descriptions probably is the big melting pot of

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1168600092108782772007-01-12T12:06:00.000+01:002007-01-12T12:15:52.896+01:00

It made me sad, you know. I recently read an article written by an accepted expert in the field, about ‘What Everyone Needs to Know about SOA’. The author wrote about the value of reusability of software functionality and described how we’ve been improving the way functional components can be ‘picked up’ for reuse.A nice story indeed, but, given the header of the article, which promises to

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1166787225751928882006-12-22T12:29:00.000+01:002006-12-22T12:33:45.766+01:00

Recently I was occupying myself with the questions of why do we store our data, what kind of data storages do we have available these days (see Where do you live and what do you do? -Why, does it matter?), and what would be the consequences of doing this. I wasn’t only thinking of storage places like databases or more fluid memory structures. Messages would fit the idea just as well, or paper

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1164198773467761402006-11-22T13:22:00.000+01:002006-11-22T14:32:14.426+01:00

In attempting to improve communication in your organization, you will very likely meet the Semantic Problem: people and automated systems often have communication problems caused by the fact that they interpret messages in different ways. One aspect of this problem is that the terms that are used in the messages may have multiple interpretations. In trying to get rid of this so-called ambiguity,

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1159526892158090722006-09-29T12:42:00.000+02:002006-11-22T14:33:56.190+01:00

At NS, we are preparing our organization for Event Driven Architecture, or EDA. There’s a growing interest for this subject in the literature, but there still are some remaining discussions. One of them is about what it is that we should be interested in, having adopted EDA as a main approach to our design of and thinking about information processes and the automated systems meant to support

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1158069201245886212006-09-12T15:47:00.000+02:002006-09-12T15:53:21.260+02:00

People in organizations say they are convinced that their data are their primary business asset, or at least, a very important one. When examining the way people use this asset, a very different picture pops up. Saying your data is important is something completely different from acting according to that insight. One of the roadblocks that need to be taken is to get rid of the symbol juggling

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1157464300201615642006-09-05T15:42:00.000+02:002006-09-05T16:07:44.643+02:00

In IT, we are more and more aware of the need for flexibility. In the systems integration domain, this is one of our main concepts. Sometimes there are very simple techniques to achieve a goal. One of them, often used but not often enough, is the subject of this posting.The ArchitectAn architect, whatever sort of, is a remarkable person. She has a number of powerful tools at her disposal. One of

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1157098631686423252006-09-01T10:16:00.000+02:002006-09-04T15:26:59.076+02:00

Many organizations keep multiple data models, each one specialized for a specific use. These models are hardly maintained in harmony. This situation is unwanted: it results in a large number of overlapping but inconsistent models, while maintenance of these models is costly. This posting is intended to put forward a CDM as a possible solution to this problem. At least, it makes a start.Where do

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1156513732147377022006-08-25T15:43:00.000+02:002006-08-31T21:27:21.563+02:00

Little more than a year ago, NS (Dutch Railway Company) started initiatives for the implementation of a better, up-to-date system integration platform. In the beginning we were mainly exploring the realm of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Because IT -flexibility was one of the main goals back then (and this one still is!), we were also aiming at the use of a canonical data model (CDM)

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211552.post-1156424722057533382006-08-24T14:56:00.000+02:002006-08-31T15:35:08.050+02:00

As a way of introduction, this first posting will give you a rough insight into my vision of what a canonical data model is (or a ‘CDM’ for short).Definition of a CDMAs I see it, and like its name would suggest, a CDM is a data model. Hence, it should give a vision, in data modeling terms, on a specific domain of interest. It could, for example, list· what kind of things are perceived relevant to

Maartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08098394394333473944noreply@blogger.com5