Working with Design Layers › Design Layers › Design Layer Hierarchy › Enterprise Model Hierarchy

Enterprise Model Hierarchy

In another example, the conceptual data model may instead be an enterprise-level data model, which establishes the standards for all applications across the organization. The enterprise-level data model may be Logical and include all of the approved standards for entities and attributes that the organization supports. The next design layer may have multiple Logical data models for multiple business applications, such as an Order Entry application and a Sales Commission application.

While these are very different types of applications, it is likely that they share some common entities such as EMPLOYEE and CUSTOMER. The enterprise-level model may include both of these entities along with others that may not be selected for either of these application-specific models. In this hierarchy, the next design layer may be a generic Physical model for each application. If each application runs on several database platforms, a final design layer is needed for database-specific data models.