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Master
data models can describe even
the most complex business objects. Each object
aggregates relational tables to define a business entity
such as a financial instrument, a health care medical
claim, or a life insurance policy. Unfortunately, these
objects may require 50 to 100 relational tables to fully
describe a single entity; tables may be nested as deep
as 8 levels, and can even be recursive. Traditional
business rules and logic tools break down when presented
with objects that are this complex. When model
definitions change, problems multiply quickly.
What is needed is a convenient and universally understood way to express the structure of complex business objects, and a means of keeping pace with change.
Data Dictionary Map
The
ObjectRiver Master Data Management system generates a
data dictionary document that is also a map of your
business objects. Business analysts who write rules and
developers who write business logic both refer to the
same data dictionary. Because the ObjectRiver business
model is also the physical model, developers and
business people speak the same language.
A sample Annuity
diagram taken from a generated data dictionary is given below. The diagram describes a financial instrument
as an object composed of stored
data. The Annuity object is defined by seven
database tables and has a maximum depth of two levels.
Cardinality relationships between tables are indicated
with a marking on the line that connects them. All of
the second level tables in this diagram have cardinality
of one-to-many or zero-to-many with their parent.
This
explicit documentation allows rules and logic programmers to
know the shape and structure of your business objects. Also, since the data dictionary is
regenerated whenever the model changes, there is ample opportunity
for peer review and less risk of being caught by surprise when things
change.
Meet the Visitor
A visitor is an object design pattern that navigates
complex business objects. Visitors are used to extend
object class behavior without modifying class files. As
such, they supply a mechanism for adding
application-specific rules and logic to your business
objects.
ObjectRiver MDM
generates all of the classes necessary for business
rules and logic programmers to build visitors.
ObjectRiver keeps your visitor programs separate from
your business objects, so that they do not bloat your
business objects with validation and process-specific
code.
Visitors navigate through an
object and visit its components. They can visit object
tables, rows, and fields, according to parameters that
you set. For example, if a rule is only relevant
to Issue tables, the corresponding
visitor will only visit Issue tables.
You can also program visitors to visit specific
types. For example, if a currency conversion rule must
be applied to all currency data, you can program the
visitor to only visit Currency types. The use
of visitors isolates rules and logic from the structure
of the object. If you add another Currency
field to your model, the currency conversion visitor will automatically convert that field as well.
Rules Engines
ObjectRiver recognizes the benefits
of third-party rules systems. We are working with a
number of companies to integrate our business objects
with their systems. Our integrated objects contain
master templates that generate object mapping code to
work transparently with these systems.
Please visit our Partners page
to see the companies we are working with.
Summary
ObjectRiver MDM generates and documents a database infrastructure for writing extremely efficient rules and business logic in Java. Flexible design tools and programming interfaces enable integration with third party rules systems.
Transaction Processing
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