[thelist] mapping out an oracle database

Matt Warden mwarden at gmail.com
Thu Feb 25 12:47:49 CST 2010


On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Jeremy Weiss <eccentric.one at gmail.com> wrote:
> Lately I've been having to write a good deal of custom reports for a
> ERP-ish system we use. However, I'm consistently having problems
> trying to trace a path from one table to another. What I'd like to do
> (I think) is chart out the system and put together a large diagram
> showing which tables are related and by what fields. But, this
> database is 680+ tables large so I'd rather not do it by hand. Is
> there a script/program out there that could analyze all the tables and
> put something like this together for me?

ERwin. PowerDesigner. Etc.

However, I would caution you. The mistake most people make when
working on reporting is when the users say "I want a report", the
report developer immediately goes to "Ok, what data do we have". In
reality, that is irrelevant. The users need data elements A, B, and C
for specific reasons... so go ahead and model that in a data mart and
start building out the visualizations. Then you or your ETL person can
figure out where to get A, B, and C from. If you can't get one of
them, then you have identified a gap and you can go from there
(probably by escalating the issue, saying we aren't collecting data
your user needs for a valid business purpose). But that doesn't change
the requirements of the end user at all.


-- 
Matt Warden
Cincinnati, OH, USA
http://mattwarden.com


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