Data is the most important asset of an organization.
As the most basic element of information, a company cannot operate without reliable accessible data. It is the foundation of virtually every decision made by every employee from front line reps to the chairman of the board. Building and maintaining systems for collecting, retrieving and analyzing accurate data is critical.
As a project manager, I’ve led the implementation of many data management systems. I’m skilled in all areas of strategy and planning and am capable of recommending appropriate technologies to meet expressed business needs. As a back-end, middleware and front-end developer, I understand the purpose of each role on a complex data management team.
Data Modeling
Data Modeling is the disciplined planning of an information system. Through participation on several enterprise projects, I’ve documented a Rapid Data Modeling System based on the principles of software engineering, yet streamlined for quick deployment using common business rules. My approach enables non-technical application users and business managers to actively participate in the development process, yet developers receive adequate technical instructions to build complex applications. My system can be modified for custom projects or installation of off-the-shelf products.
Seven Rapid Data Modeling Phases
I: Mission Definition
Build the team, define roles and responsibilities and agree on goals and objectives to guard against scope creep.
II: Current System Analysis
Separate manager and user interviews. Define current process of entry and retrieval. Perform Gap Analysis and Reverse Engineering.
III: Structure and Relationship Definition
Define field definitions, primary/foreign key relationships, schematic layout.
IV: Business Rules Definition
Management and User follow up. Define validation systems.
V: Views Definition
Define various user-level access (i.e. developers, DBAs, management, support, customers, suppliers, etc.). Define the Visual Identity to ensure a consistent intuitive user interface.
VI: Integrity Review
Identify and eliminate risks to integrity of structural, data and security.
VII: Deployment Plan
Develop testing plans for user acceptance, performance, load balancing. Develop data migration plan. Develop launch plan (i.e. parallel operation, bug tracking, emergency rollback processes, support team hand-off, etc.)