Schema design best practice

The right database schema design is essential to ensure the quality and consistency of your enterprise data.

When designing the schema of a Granta MI database, the Database Administrator needs to consider four objectives:

• Efficiency & maintainability - Reduce duplication and make easy to maintain.
• User experience - Does the schema represent the end-user's view of the data effectively? Can the data be understood by users with little training and interpretation?
• Capabilities - Can the database support your business processes?
• Traceability - Does the schema make it possible to track the trail of data generated during product development? People need to be able to answer questions like "How was this design allowable made?", "Where did this alloy batch come from?"

Design decisions for Granta MI databases fall into 3 main categories:

• Defining the database Tables and the links between them
• Defining the Data hierarchy - how records in the database are organized into folders and subfolders for easier access.
• Selecting the best data types for your data.