

This was a boon to software developers, but it posed a challenge for the data scientists and data warehouse users who wanted to create reports from the data or analyze it.Īs flexible and fast as Schema-on-Read is, it also requires that data be transformed into an understandable relational model of some kind in order to allow business users to make sense of it.

Schema-on-Read allows applications to store data in semi-structured formats such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and to rapidly iterate on it without breaking the database behind the applications. Schema-on-Read first rose to popularity among software developers, because it shortened the delivery time for working applications. With the more recent advent of the Schema-on-Read methodology, in which the goal is to load data into the system as quickly as possible and without upfront design and modeling, the role of data modeling has taken a backseat. In Schema-on-Write, which has been the standard method for loading data to be stored since the inception of relational databases in the 1970s, a database designer creates a structure, or “schema,” for the data before it is loaded, or “written,” into the system. Data modeling helps define the structure and semantics of the data, so business users and data scientists can be properly query, manipulate, and analyze it.īusinesses that employ Schema-on-Write methodology know the importance of data modeling. Effective data modeling is critical to making these massive new data streams and formats usable. In order for businesses to be able to use all this data to drive growth, they must first be able to understand it. IDC recently estimated that 175 zettabytes of data will have been created by 2025.

With the rise of mobile devices and applications, as well as the Internet of Things, the number and variety of data sources has grown exponentially over the past decade.
