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What is Data Modeling?

David White
David White

Data modeling is a way to structure and organize data so it can be used easily by databases. Unstructured data can be found in word processing documents, email messages, audio or video files, and design programs. Data modeling doesn't want these "ugly" data; rather, it wants data that is all made up in a nice, neat package for processing by a database.

Data modeling is routinely used in conjunction with a database management system. Data that has been modeled and made ready for this system can be identified in various ways, such as according to what they represent or how they relate to other data. The idea is to make data as presentable as possible, so analysis and integration can be done with as little effort as necessary.

We can also think of data modeling as instructions for building a database. Concentrate on the word model, and you'll get what we're going after here. To make a "pretty" database, you will want to follow a model as a means toward your desired end.

Man holding computer
Man holding computer

For example, if you want to analyze how many people in a given congressional district voted in the last election, you will naturally want to include a column for which party each person voted for. That kind of analysis will be valuable to members of all political parties, and it is the kind of detail that you can build into the database from the ground up, instructing the database management system to include that column of information in the resulting database. If you wanted to analyze that information specifically but didn't include a column for it in your database, you'd spend lots of time collating the data — effort that would not be necessary if you had followed the data model in the first place. Data modeling is therefore a very important skill to implement when building databases.

Discussion Comments

anon114818

Two thumbs up. Very concise and clear. - ajrosal

anon102068

Excellent definition of data modeling. thank you very much.

anon95001

this is a good definition. thank you very much. anyone who has no idea what this is can understand easily without confusion.

anon87244

the definition of data modeling is very good for a beginner and gives a very good idea of knowing what is data modeling. Thank you very much.

anon85658

Very simple and easy to understand.

anon83936

really helpful in designing specs for my project. It's easy to understand for a beginner like me.

anon64781

very helpful! best way to explain a beginner.

thank you so much.

anon62052

A neat explanation for beginners. Data Modeling 101. Thanks!

anon59999

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anon56826

In a very efficient manner I got the idea about data modeling.

anon33185

This is the simplest and most effective definition of data modeling. It's very nice for a beginner.

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