Re: [xml-dev] What is the best way to approach the structuring ofinvento

[Michael Sokolov <sokolov@ifactory.com>]

Before you start modeling anything you need data.  Maybe you have it 
already, but if not what you need to do is start by finding knowledgable 
people and interviewing them. Ask them for their inventories, whatever 
they may be: flight manifests, repair histories, safety checklists, 
existing database schemas, databases full of screws and engine cowlings: 
whatever seems relevant.  If you can manage it, go to a hangar and see 
what they really do, if only to remind yourself what it's all for. Then 
start organizing, weeding, gathering explanations about what all the 
pieces of paper and files are for and so on.  Once you have amassed all 
this raw data, look for patterns, keep the outliers as mementos, and 
start building your model.  The modeling is the creative part to be 
sure, but legwork comes first I think.

-Mike


On 7/3/2012 4:48 PM, Michael Kay wrote:
> First you need what I would call a conceptual object model, but you 
> can call it a taxonomy if you prefer. Defining exactly what is meant 
> by concepts such as a "flight" is a key part of this, and is always 
> much harder to pin down than it might appear at first sight. Another 
> key part is defining the relationships between these entities.
>
> If you're designing a database then the conceptual object model 
> usually translates fairly directly into a database schema, modulo a 
> bit of "physical database design" to make it efficient. For XML 
> design, however, you are often designing messages rather than a 
> persistent data store, and to design messages you need to take into 
> account who is sending them to whom and why: so you need to understand 
> the process model as well as the data model.
>
> For what you call "inventory data" I think one of the challenges is to 
> decide where the boundary lies between types and instances. For some 
> parts of the system, Boeing 747 and Airbus 320 are instances of the 
> type "plane", but for other parts of the system an individual aircraft 
> is a unique instance of the type "Boeing 747", with its own 
> maintenance history, its own configuration of components, and so on. 
> In XML terms you have to decide how much information goes in the 
> element name and how much in the content, and this may vary from one 
> message to another.
>
> Michael Kay
> Saxonica
>
> On 03/07/2012 13:43, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> I am starting work on defining an XML vocabulary for some inventory 
>> data.
>>
>> My inventory includes data such as the count of the number of 
>> aircraft at each airport, the count of the number aircraft ground 
>> refuelers at each airport, and so forth.
>>
>> What is the best way to proceed?
>>
>> My thinking is that the first step should be to create a taxonomy. 
>> Then define a structure which reflects that taxonomy.
>>
>> Is that the best way to proceed?
>>
>> Do you have experience with structuring inventory data? If so, how 
>> did you proceed?
>>
>> /Roger
>>
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