Are there any standard examples/ samples of data dictionaries that document a database.
Are there any standard examples/ samples of data dictionaries that document a database.
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Are there any standard examples/ samples of data dictionaries that document a database.
The official standard is ISO/IEC 11179 … which will make your head hurt and refers to semantic elements of the documented data-model when we usually need both semantic and physical (tables, fields etc.) documentation in a ‘real world’ data dictionary.
Personally, I favour (however you implement this is up to you) physical and optionally logical Entity-Relationship models on the front-page, entry screen or wherever a user of the Data Dictionary first ‘hits’ (This provides a meta layer to the detail beneath).
Then for each table:
Table Name [Physical | Logical]
Table description (content, granularity, ‘periodicity’ (if there
is one, the time period which applies to the data contained in the table),
source)
Then for each column:
Relationships Constraint name | ‘Other’ Table | Cardinality | Type
etc.
Indexes Name | Column
Membership | Type etc.
…Obviously, that’s a ‘less is more’ approach to defining a data dictionary! I think the key is providing an easy way in (through the ER) model, rather than just a long, labourious list of tables and columns.