Database Design database modelling and reverse engineering
Database Workbench includes a diagramming tool that supports both Conceptual Data Modeling and Physical Data Modeling.
The Diagram Editor allows you to
- visually design your database and relationships
- use Conceptual Data Modeling (business rules)or Physical Data Modeling
- use sub-diagrams, coloring and object grouping for clarity
- document your database or use the exported diagrams in your existing documentation
Conceptual Data ModellingA Conceptual Model (CDM) is database system agnostic type of model and applies to business rules without going into the underlying physical representation in a database while a Physical Data Model (PDM) is the exact model for a database. From a CDM you can generate a PDM for a given database system including any database system specific data types or database objects like "domains". After creating a database agnostic conceptual data model, you can generate a physical model. The Diagram Editor will generate intermediate tables and foreign key constraints for you. See the screen shots. |
Reverse Engineering and Physical ModelsBesides creating a Physical Data Model yourself, you can also "reverse engineer" an existing database to get an overview of the tables and relationships in your database. Afterwards, a diagram can be updated when changes in the database occurred, so your documentation is up-to-date. |
