In my last post, I wrote about ensuring that your data model properly handles global information: numbers, currencies, phone numbers, addresses, dates, and time zones, among other things. However, I’ve realized that many example data models have exactly the “self-centric” or “Amero-centric” approach that I cautioned against. Read more
Social media surrounds us, so it’s not unusual for applications to require some kind of social media integration. The most common is signing in with Facebook, Twitter, or another service. Users expect to be able to log in with different social accounts. So, applications meet these expectations by offering external login options.
Let’s... Read more
DLM Dashboard is a free tool that lets you track schema changes as they progress through the different stages of your database lifecycle. With DLM Dashboard you can start to get a much better picture of your workflow and see where you might need to take remedial action. DLM Dashboard categorizes your databases by environment... Read more
Very few database authors mention the challenges of globalization and localization in any meaningful way. There’s a similar lack of foresight from database architects. The fact is that many authors and designers are frequently very ‘self-centric’: they create (or write about) data models that only properly handle their local time zones, addresses, etc. Read more
How to design a database flexible enough to accommodate several very different card games.
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We’ve just released SQL Prompt 7.2 with new SSMS 2016 support, features and fixes. If you’re new to SQL Prompt try it for free. If you already use it, just ‘check for updates’ in SQL Prompt to upgrade to the new version. For more detail on what’s new, read on. SQL Server Management Studio... Read more
In the previous two articles, we considered the two most common data warehouse models: the star schema and the snowflake schema. Today, we’ll examine the differences between these two schemas and we’ll explain when it’s better to use one or the other. Read more
In this era of globalization, companies – including software developers – are always interested in expanding to new markets. This often means localizing their products for different areas. In this article, we’ll explain a few approaches to designing your data model for localization - specifically, for managing content in multiple languages. Read more
In a previous article we discussed the star schema model. The snowflake schema is next to the star schema in terms of its importance in data warehouse modeling. It was developed out of the star schema, and it offers some advantages over its predecessor. But these advantages come at a cost. In this article,... Read more
This is the fourth in our multi–part series on data modeling for information security as well as data characteristics. A simple data model for a fictional website that supports shared–interest organizations (bird–watching clubs, etc.) has provided us with content for exploring data modeling from a security viewpoint. Read more
