Object Role Modeling (ORM) - Term Paper Example

 Data management is the process of both structuring and organizing data which is accomplished by using a data management system.  The primary function of information systems is to manage large quantities of structured and unstructured data and structured data that is used for data management system storage are normally identified as relational databases.Typically, unstructured data is that data such as word processing documents, email messages, pictures, digital audio, and video files.

  When a software development project is in the early design stage, the emphasis is on designing a conceptual data model.  This type of conceptual model includes a map of concepts and their relationships.  By mapping the relationship concept schema, database design is then produced and then a logical schema will then be produced.A conceptual data model is then detailed into a logical data model which is then translated into a physical data model.  A logical data model is simply an abstract representation of a set of data entities and their relationship.

  The purpose of a logical data model is to facilitate the analysis of the function of the data design.  This is normally introduced early in the system design and is normally a precursor to the physical data model that documents the implementation of the database, which generally includes all the database artifacts required to create relationships between the tables or achieve performance goals, such as indexing, constraint definitions, linking tables, partitioned tables or clusters.

  The physical data model can usually be used to calculate storage estimates and may include specific storage allocations details for any given database system.A data model refers to two very different things: a description of data structure and the way data is organized using a data management system.To understand how the data structure is structured, it is important to understand how the structure of data is described as a model.  A data model describes the structure of data within a given domain and, by definition; the underlying structure of that data itself is termed “data structure”.