Data Architecture Demystified

Like so many terms in the world of “data,” the term “Data Architecture” has many different and wildly incompatible meanings. This presentation takes an Enterprise Architecture (EA) perspective on the meaning of “data architecture” and demystifies the meaning of the term by presenting a concrete, understandable, and practical model of what a data architecture is. The presentation will describe how a Data Architecture is used to facilitate the design of interoperability solutions, maintain traceability to application requirements, and conform to enterprise-level lexicons and “semantic models.” Like other architectural views, a Data Architecture is a design artifact; it is an integrated collection of data-centric models that represents the relationships among data assets and satisfaction of business process information requirements. DoDAF is the EA context within which the Data Architecture view will be situated. The application of the Data Architecture view presented will be illustrated (in part) with examples from a current information system development project.

Speaker: William Burkett

Mr. Burkett is a Systems Engineer and Data Architect at Booz Allen Hamilton with over 40 years of experience in Data Modeling, data-based system interoperability, and data standards development. Mr. Burkett’s work, principally for the U.S. Army, has focused on enterprise data management policy and guidance; more recently, he has served as the principal data architect for a large information systems development effort. Mr. Burkett’s systems engineering perspective on data, Data Modeling, Data Architecture, and Data Management has provided a unique and holistic approach to these efforts. Mr. Burkett is a student of Data Modeling theory and practice, with a particular interest in data model quality, data mapping, and Data Architecture.