The core of the corporation

There has also been a convergence of other factors, such as the explosion in data volumes, the push from business ‘sponsors’ such as company directors and the management team to have more visibility into and understanding of their data assets - and the fiscal drivers to “do more with less” and promote asset reuse, that have drawn increasing focus to the issue of managing a corporation’s core IT assets - its data.

ER/Studio from Embarcadero Technologies is a data modeling product that provides data architects with the tools, procedures and best practices to implement a robust data governance programme to help companies discover, document, manage and reuse data assets. With round-trip database support, data architects have the power to thoroughly analyse existing data sources as well as design and implement high quality databases. Combined with its highly-readable visual format, the tool enhances communication across functions.

In the recent 7.1 release, ER/Studio builds on its enterprise model management and collaboration capabilities to help organisations take a global approach to two important aspects of data management: reducing risks associated with data security and enhancing data model quality – both key factors in developing an effective data governance programme.

Data architects can facilitate compliance and reduce the risk of inappropriate data use through the improved identification, classification and communication of policies around sensitive data. In addition, the 7.1 release vastly improves model consistency and quality by providing validation rules to enforce company-specific standards and practices across the enterprise.

This tutorial will provide an overview of some of the key features in ER/Studio that promote data governance.

Ensure consistency and standards

Establishing standards and enforcing re-use of core objects is key to any successful data governance programme. ER/Studio’s data dictionary is a source for reusable artifacts such as domains, references values and reusable procedure logic. These reusable artifacts can “seed” new or exiting models with enterprise standard objects. Metadata attachments such as stewardship and security classifications can also be defined to promote clearer understanding of model data and the implications these data items may have on an organisation.

Once defined in the data dictionary, metadata tags can be visualised on the entity-relationship diagram. Where standards such as domains have been used, this can be indicated in parentheses (e.g. marital status).