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‘Concept Model’ vs. ‘Fact Model’ … Where in the World are the Instances?

by Ronald G. Ross on February 16, 2012

In a dramatic development, the new release of SBVR (1.1) has replaced the term “fact type” with “verb concept”, and the term “fact model” with “concept model”, for all business-facing use.[1] Why the problems with “fact type” and “fact model”? Let me see if I can explain.
First some background: Since its inception in the [...]

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Moving the Goalposts for Data Models … Deliberately

by Ronald G. Ross on January 12, 2012

A practitioner recently said this: “Even if we assume that a technical methodology might exist to generate a complete and correct data model from a set of articulated business rules / facts, in my opinion this approach just moves the target from the data modeling area to the need to verify the articulation of business [...]

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Data Modeling: Art or Science?

by Ronald G. Ross on January 11, 2012

A practitioner recently commented: “Everyone has their biased view of what a data model is. Data modeling is art – not science. Give 6 data modelers one set of requirements and you’ll get 7 solutions all distinctively different.”
My response: To me that’s a huge problem. No, ‘data’ modeling is not a science, but nor should [...]

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More on Concept Model vs. Conceptual Data Model

by Ronald G. Ross on January 10, 2012

As part of a continuing dialog, I recently asked these questions: What does the term “conceptual data model” really mean? Is it the best term for what is meant?
To me, it sounds like “conceptual data model” might be about “conceptual data”. Surely not(?). What exactly then? (Some of my thoughts on the matter: http://goo.gl/8GX5o.)
A practitioner [...]

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What Exactly is a ‘Conceptual Data Model’ … and Why in the World is It Called that, Not Just ‘Concept Model’?

by Ronald G. Ross on January 4, 2012

I’m kicking off 2012 with a couple of things I just don’t get. Here’s the second one: What exactly is a ‘conceptual data model’? Why in the world is it called that instead of just ‘concept model’?
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Did you ever pause for a while to ponder the meaning of the term “data”? Most of us don’t. [...]

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Typical Dialog When You Don’t Know the Concepts or Vocabulary … Can Anyone Explain This Soccer Rule to Me??

by Ronald G. Ross on October 25, 2011

I’m an avid fan of soccer … and, of course, business rules. I recently found the following business rule via a Twitter search and just had to ask what it meant.
FootballRascal – Can’t sign a player and then loan him out to another Premier League club in same window, business rule as fee charged
Ronald_G_Ross – [...]

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Thou Shalt Not Kill … Could Anyone Mistake that Commandment for a Process?! Or the Process with a Concept?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 11, 2011

My Analysis: There are three clearly different things involved here …

The process of murder transforms a live person into a dead person by killing them.
The concept of murder is defined as the act of killing someone.
The rule about murder is that there shouldn’t be any of them.

The first is about doing; the second is about [...]

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Something Important All Business Analysts Owe to Business People … Probably Not Something You’d Expect?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 6, 2011

One of the first rules of business analysis should be never waste business people’s time. One of the fastest ways to waste their time is not knowing what they are talking about … literally … and do nothing about it. So you end up just wasting their time over and over again. Unacceptable.
Is there a [...]

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Confession Time … I Fell into the Same Vocabulary Trap I Warn Everyone Else About

by Ronald G. Ross on August 30, 2011

I have been involved in a great on-going discussion on LinkedIn about data models. I posed the question: Is there any proven way to demonstrate data models are correct, complete, and stable with respect to the operational business and its needs? You might enjoy joining in: http://goo.gl/MsnXu
It was literally 25 messages into the discussion that [...]

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Moving the Goalposts for Data Modeling … Deliberately. Hey Guys, We’re in a Knowledge Economy.

by Ronald G. Ross on August 23, 2011

Is there any proven way to demonstrate data models are correct, complete, and stable with respect to the operational business and its needs? No. That’s distressing. 
Is there an alternative that does? Yes, fact modeling, which is to say structured business vocabularies (concept systems). The core concepts (fact model) of an operational business area are very, very stable. I have [...]

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