Dutch BI Blog

Every day at my customers site, I start with the question; “Anyone coffee?!?!?”. You might think what this questions has to do with datavault modelling.The answer is as simple as the example how datavault data modelling is part of the every day life.

This post will zoom in on this simple example of how datavault can be used to visualise simple things and how simple things can be used to visualize datavault techniques. The question I started with was ; ‘Any one want coffee???’ . A simple question, but the answer is NOT that simple. It visualizes the effect of business keys used within a company and how different people use different (business) keys for the same goal; a nice cup of fresh coffee…

* “I’ll have a black coffee please.”
* “I want a ‘11′ please”
* “For me it will be a ‘0002′ please”
* “I’ll have a STRONG black coffee, please. An ‘11111′ please”

Al these answers are used as business keys by the people, when I get my first cup of coffee in the morning. They all use different codes for providing me the same information and identify one cup of black gold. No Sugar, No Milk, just the black liquid.I just use these codes to provide them with the required cup of coffee.

But not all ’systems’ are perfect. What if I want a cup of coffee less strong? Or what if I would like Milk or Sugar in my cup of coffee? The coffee machine only takes two interface;

(1) The selection method
(2) The short code method

The selection method is just simple selection of the requirement (e.g. less strong coffee, with lots of sugar and a drip of milk). It takes the user a lot of interfacing; selecting the specified liquid, changing the standard to the custom made cup of hot gold. Yes, you need to have an interface, the ‘user’, to translate/convert the requirement to a combination of keys, so the machine is capable of handling your order and providing the right cup of coffee to the right person.

On the other hand, the user can also use the short code. This has a BIG advantage, because the ‘user’ doesn’t need to have an interface, he or she just types in the code and gets what the customer has ordered. The translation / interface is at the customer (source system ?!?!).

Both methods are providing the product to the requestor. It is like datavault modelling, one person uses the social security number to identify a individual, an other person uses an userID and the third person just uses the individuals name, but the all identify the same individual with their different (business) keys.

So far for the business key visualisation by using a normal vending coffee machine. Next time I will do the tea example for you readers

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