By Karen Lopez on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 6:02 PM

While waiting for my desktop to reboot today, I decided to mine some data about our ERwin User Discussion Group.  This was our first mailing list / online community, which we volunteered to manage after Duncan Dwelle decided to get out of the mailing list "business" he started in 1995.  The ERwin Mailing list is now 13 years old -- a bratty teenager if I ever saw one.

Prior to our current implementation under WebBoard, we ran the list on my 486 PC in my basement.  Duncan passed along the list of users to us in 1997, which we ran on that slow, lonely PC.  Deciding that I needed a more robust solution, I created the WebBoard version of the list on 23 July 1999.  I most likely held off approving new messages until there were a significant number of users registered, as Robert Pangborn was the first to post a message (other than me).  His message was an introduction.  Rick Bosworth and Doug Stone made their introductions shortly afterwards.  I invite Robert, Rick, and Doug to post updates to their introductions.  Maybe we all should?

The Data Modeling List was created just a couple of days later.

To date there are just over 7,200 messages posted to the ERwin User Discussion Group.  Doug Stone made the first non-introduction post on opening day in the ERwin 3x Conference:

NU has had much success with SP2 for ERwin. It appears to have eliminated
some column ordering problems. We have since moved from build 434 to 436+
and that solved some small glitches. For ModelMart it has helped as well.
The only thing we seem to have more of on SP2 for ModelMart is bad columns
(they are missing references in indexes) but that may have something to do
with our Mart.
Doug
P.S. Karen, the email version of the ERwin list sends an incredible number
of
characters. I don't know what they are. Perhaps my email system
is adding or translating them, but I did not get them before. Can they be
removed from your server? Or maybe I need a text only email version?

Ah, and he reference one of the most annoying bugs in the WebBoard product that lasted for years because the product manager for WebBoard thought that it wasn't that bad because no one expected e-mail to be clear.  This bug caused a lot of HTML like < pr > to show up in the messages.  So painful.  But you have to remember this was 1999 and many people in the tech industry (including some people I worked for and some members of the DAMA International Board) predicted that this whole Internet and e-mail thing was a fad that would soon die off.  So fixing what was then perceived as a technical glitch being complained about by a bunch of technical people was just not a priority.  Finally, though, a new product manager got it fixed.

While we have no way of telling which message is the most read, since most of you read the messages via e-mail, a posting about CA ERwin v4.0 Beta is our most viewed message on the discussion group website - a whopping 20,295 times.  Of course, now that I've posted a link to it, that number will increase.  I highly recommend a trip down memory lane for all of you to read about the excitement surrounding the eminent release of ERwin 4.0.   This post also holds the record for most number of posts for the thread, at 35 messages.

The second most viewed message is one on CA Direction for ERwin, posted by Tom Bilcze.

The message with the longest life span (from first post to last reply) is a message I posted to the Contribute Tips and Trick conference on the Mass import of Definitions.  I first posted this in January 2000 and the last reply was May 2007, for a life span of 2660 days.

So while technically we should celebrate the anniversary of our community as having started sometime in 1995 when Duncan started his mailing list, I think we should celebrate the creation of community on the WebBoard.  That means that 23 July is our date.  Watch for future posts about our celebration.

By Karen Lopez on Monday, June 16, 2008 8:03 PM

Like many of you in North America, we've been experiencing some pretty frightening weather over the last couple of weeks.  No flooding or real permanent damage here in Toronto, but there has been enough green skies, sideways rain, power outages, and wind to tear up a few plants and to send me emotionally back to my elementary school days of tornado drills and missing buildings.

Today I was on the phone with Andrea from DAMA Minnesota when the skies turned dark and the rain started pouring down.  I told her that I may lose the call because our power seems to go out at the drop of a...raindrop.  Then the noise started.  It got louder...then LOUDER.  At first I thought it was small branches hitting my office windows, but when I looked out, I could see snow.  No, wait, that's not snow, that's hail.  Then the big ones started coming down, bouncing up about a metre in the air, then finally coming to a stop.

Having grown up in the US Midwest, I take these sorts of weather patterns seriously.  So I rushed Andrea off the phone and found a safer place in the house to wait it out.  I thought for sure that the skylights were going to break and that some of our larger windows would be the next to go.

But about 5 minutes later, it was blue skies again.

However, my brain went into a sort of "gotta gets some work done before the power goes out" mode.  I finished writing three sections of a report that should have been done last week.  I polished off a big chunk of my to-do list.  I booked a couple of months of travel arrangements.  I think instead of my usual "what can I do to procrastinate these unbearable to-dos", my brain had shifted into survival mode ... or at least some type of panic mode.

Maybe there's some sort of productivity tool here: switching from glued-to-the-computer boredom to life threatening (or at least fear of life threatening) mode can be a new form of Getting Things Done.

By Karen Lopez on Friday, June 13, 2008 4:58 PM

I know from speaking to you at conferences and DAMA meetings that many of your organizations use Len Silverston's Universal Data Models:

Now you can get a real data model of these universal data models in Embarcadero ER/Studio format directly from Embarcadero:

The Universal Data Models now available for ER/Studio customers were developed by renowned author and modeling expert Len Silverston, and will now be sold by Embarcadero, the fastest growing worldwide database design vendor in 2006 based on total software revenue according to Gartner Dataquest.

"On average, at least 60 percent of a data model or data warehouse design consists of common constructs that are applicable to most enterprises," said Silverston. "This means that most data modeling or data warehouse design efforts are at some point re-creating constructs that have been built many times before. By leveraging the standard Universal Data Models, Embarcadero ER/Studio customers can more quickly develop data models and save on maintenance by using the agile modeling constructs."

In addition to dramatically reducing development time, the Universal Data Models for ER/Studio improve the quality of data models by providing a quality assurance checkpoint to validate work and foresee possible pitfalls.

"Making a mistake in the design process and not catching it until production can cost a company millions of dollars," said Jason Tiret, senior product manager for ER/Studio, Embarcadero Technologies. "We have found that reusable data models are the most effective way for database professionals to achieve maximum productivity and quality assurance while reducing risk. They can also serve as an independent, common standard for organizations grappling to agree on one."

Laid out in ER/Studio's easy-to-read format, the Universal Data Models are categorized into nine individual subject areas that can be combined to form a complete and integrated corporate model. The nine subject areas include:

• People & Organizations
• Product
• Orders & Agreements
• Shipments & Deliveries
• Work Effort & Project Management
• Invoicing & Time Billing
• Accounting & Budgeting
• Human Resources
• Web & e-Commerce

In addition, seven industry-specific Universal Data Models are available, including:

• Banking, Investments & Financial Services
• Healthcare
• Insurance
• Professional Services
• Manufacturing
• Telecommunications
• Travel

Pricing and Availability
The Universal Data Models for ER/Studio are now available worldwide via Embarcadero's direct sales representatives. US customers can also place orders via Embarcadero's e-commerce site. Pricing starts at $1,295 USD. For more information, visit www.embarcadero.com.

By Karen Lopez on Friday, June 13, 2008 4:26 PM

Check out the InfoAdvisors Calendar (bottom of the page) for information about my upcoming speaking engagements in California and Oregon.

• DAMA Sacramento: 23 June 2008
• DAMA Los Angeles: 25 June 2008
• DAMA Portland, OR: 26 June 2008

  Also note that Rob and I will be running the Reach the Bridge 8k fun run for the Oregon Lung Association on 29 June.  DAMA Portland has a team (the DAMA Downhillers) , so if you are in the Portland area and thinking of walking or running this event, you can sign up under that team name (even if you aren't a DAMA member).  This is a non-time, non-competitive run or walk from the World Wildlife Center to the Burnside Bridge.  The key is that you can pick the time you'd like to start and then try to get to the other side of the drawbridge before it opens.

I think this reverse-time event makes for a great analogy for what we do, don't you?

By Karen Lopez on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 10:23 AM

Embarcadero Technologies has announced an open beta program for a new tool, DBOptimizer:

The DB Optimizer Early Adopters Program is an open invitation for anyone to download, install, and try Embarcadero's newest product offering. Download, install, and activate and you are eligible for 20% off your first purchase of DB Optimizer. Offer expires September 30, 2008.

Greg Keller has blogged about this new beta tool:

So reflect on the name: Database (DB) Optimizer. Voila. You got it. Optimizing databases as it relates to their performance. Making them run faster and more efficiently. How? Well, by providing the DBA or developer with tools in DBOptimizer to look deeply at two specific causes of ill performance:

• Bad SQL
• Atrocious wait times in the database.

So, to combat those two issues above, DBOptimizer is built on two core pieces of functionality: Sophisticated tuning of SQL and SQL Profiling for analyzing wait times and bottlenecks. It is, as developers in the Java and C++ camps had for time ad infinitum, a true profiler.

By Karen Lopez on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 9:28 AM

Glenn McDonald of www.furia.com has authored a cranky blog post about the terminology an approaches associated with "THE SEMANTIC WEB" (read that with a lot of echo effect).

1. "Semantic". By starting the name this way, you have essentially, avoidably, uselessly doomed the whole named enterprise before it starts. Most people don't have the slightest idea what this word even means, most of the people who do have an idea think it implies pointless distinctions, and everybody left after you eliminate those two groups will still have to argue about what "semantic" means. This is a rare actual example of begging the question. Or to put it in terms you will understand: congratulations, you've introduced terminological head recursion. Any wonder the program never gets around to doing anything? 

He has some good points here.  I'm not sure that the semantic world is so doomed as McDonald makes it, but his post is an interesting read. I especially enjoyed the dig at data modelers as well as the use of the term "semantic", since I have also seen many eyes roll at its mere mention. I also get a good chuckle out of hearing someone say to me "it's just semantics" when we are trying to nail down a business requirement related to order status or customer type....to which I usually reply, "Yes, it is".