Re: Database schema for univesal usage

Chris wrote:
> Thanks for the answer - now I am really curious:
> The DBMS is a general engine.
> But everyone of us must painfully (?) design tables and views that
> differ from one application to another?
> If i have to design table using the ER model for - lets say a CRM - the
> design will be completely different from the table set I have to build
> for another application e.g. hardware inventory.

I can't see that there's any getting round this. Suppose you did build a general-purpose database schema, you'd still have to painfully (?) work out how you were going to use this to store your data. There's no such thing as a free lunch: you've just pushed the problem to a different place.

The whole strength of a DBMS is its generalness. (is this a real word?)

> I nearly can believe that noone has tried to build a multi purpose
> table/view set which - once generated - does not need to be redesigned
> for any change of usage.

Well, this really describes the "system tables" of a database management system - the tables that store details of all the user-defined tables, views, etc. If you did as you are suggesting, you'd just be implementing a virtual DBMS inside your existing DBMS.

> On the level of business management some ideas
> exist for a company-wide database. However on a technical base I did
> not find any information about this idea - or any descriptions of
> people how has tried it. Still looking forward...

Although I've never used it, there are companies like SAP that I understand provide massive off-the-shelf database installations that are supposed to cover large amounts of standard business requirements. But that's only because things like accounting, payroll, etc. are fairly standard across companies.

Paul. Received on Mon May 09 2005 - 18:31:42 CEST