Database Documentation

I would be interested in hearing what tools people have used to document the
business uses of tables in a database? I have looked at the meta data
services that comes with SQL Server, and while it looks like a good tool, I
do not think that it fits particularly well with what I am looking to
accomplish. I would like to have some documentation that outlines the
business uses of/business rules for each table in the database. Almost an
ERD, but something that discusses/shows information about the business model
that the database/system(s) were constructed to support.
Any advice is appreciated!
TimHello Tim,
This might not be what you are looking for but maybe it can be. I've started
a project which is intended to help people with their network documentation.
The output is to Microsoft word.
The project has two files, one for documenting Servers in general and one
for documenting SQL-Servers. I've just started with the SQL version so there
are a lot of things that can be added.
If you are interested in the project you can find information here:
http://sydi.sourceforge.net
If you want to add feature requests you can do so here:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=116471&atid=674897
Best regards
Patrick
"TimS" <timstspry@.msn.com(donotspam)> wrote in message
news:77AD57C8-C893-41D7-B200-38435DB2D11A@.microsoft.com...
> I would be interested in hearing what tools people have used to document
the
> business uses of tables in a database? I have looked at the meta data
> services that comes with SQL Server, and while it looks like a good tool,
I
> do not think that it fits particularly well with what I am looking to
> accomplish. I would like to have some documentation that outlines the
> business uses of/business rules for each table in the database. Almost an
> ERD, but something that discusses/shows information about the business
model
> that the database/system(s) were constructed to support.
> Any advice is appreciated!
> Tim|||Hi Tim,
Here is what we have done. In our database we have two "extra tables" One
that describes the tables and one that describes individual fields
(columns). The fields table has a foreign key back to the tables table so
that fields can be associated with their proper table. In those tables we
have columns that are used to describe the individual tables and fields.
Things like business rules, uses etc. We then have a set of web pages that
connect to an empty version of the database that has only this meta data
information in it. Everyone can use them to view and update this
information. Each time a new version of the DB comes out we have an
automated process that creates a new empty DB, copies the two tables of meta
data from the existing DB and then updates the metadata tables with the
updates to the schema (updated tables & colums). The existing DB then gets
replaced with the updated DB and the web pages now use this.
Wayne
"TimS" <timstspry@.msn.com(donotspam)> wrote in message
news:77AD57C8-C893-41D7-B200-38435DB2D11A@.microsoft.com...
>I would be interested in hearing what tools people have used to document
>the
> business uses of tables in a database? I have looked at the meta data
> services that comes with SQL Server, and while it looks like a good tool,
> I
> do not think that it fits particularly well with what I am looking to
> accomplish. I would like to have some documentation that outlines the
> business uses of/business rules for each table in the database. Almost an
> ERD, but something that discusses/shows information about the business
> model
> that the database/system(s) were constructed to support.
> Any advice is appreciated!
> Tim|||SchemaToDoc (http://www.schematodoc.com) lets you annotate the tables and
fields in your database. It then lets you export the structure of your
database (tables, fields, indexes, check constraints, foreign key
constraints, and triggers) as well as your annotations to a Word document.
"Patrick Ogenstad" <patrick.ogenstad@.netsafe.se> wrote in message
news:uoeqjdgoEHA.1272@.TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Hello Tim,
>
> This might not be what you are looking for but maybe it can be. I've
started
> a project which is intended to help people with their network
documentation.
> The output is to Microsoft word.
>
> The project has two files, one for documenting Servers in general and one
> for documenting SQL-Servers. I've just started with the SQL version so
there
> are a lot of things that can be added.
>
> If you are interested in the project you can find information here:
> http://sydi.sourceforge.net
>
> If you want to add feature requests you can do so here:
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=116471&atid=674897
>
> Best regards
> Patrick
>
> "TimS" <timstspry@.msn.com(donotspam)> wrote in message
> news:77AD57C8-C893-41D7-B200-38435DB2D11A@.microsoft.com...
> > I would be interested in hearing what tools people have used to document
> the
> > business uses of tables in a database? I have looked at the meta data
> > services that comes with SQL Server, and while it looks like a good
tool,
> I
> > do not think that it fits particularly well with what I am looking to
> > accomplish. I would like to have some documentation that outlines the
> > business uses of/business rules for each table in the database. Almost
an
> > ERD, but something that discusses/shows information about the business
> model
> > that the database/system(s) were constructed to support.
> >
> > Any advice is appreciated!
> >
> > Tim
>