Transforming a physical data model into a logical data model

Use the Transform to Logical Data Model wizard to transform a physical data model into a logical data model.

Before you begin

Before transforming a physical data model, check the model validity and property settings:

Procedure

To transform a physical data model into a logical data model:

  1. Select a physical data model or a physical data model object in the Data Project Explorer. You can transform from a .pdm file, a database, a schema, or a table.
  2. Click Data > Transform > Logical Data Model.
  3. If the Check Model page is displayed, select the appropriate options:
    • If you do not want to analyze the physical data model, deselect the Analyze physical model before transformation option.
    • If you want to analyze the physical data model, perform the following steps:
      1. Ensure that the Analyze physical model before transformation check box is selected and click Next.
      2. Review the physical data model analysis results on the Check Model Results page.
      3. If problems are found in the model, you can click Cancel to close the wizard and fix the problems. The details of the model analysis problems are shown in the Problems view. You can navigate to the data objects in the Data Project Explorer by double-clicking the message in the Problems view.
  4. On the Target Logical Model page of the wizard, specify whether to create a new logical data model or update an existing logical data model.

    The Generate traceability option specifies that you want to create a dependency between physical data model objects and logical data model objects so that you can trace the lineage of the objects. This dependency, when used with the impact analysis feature, helps you to determine what objects are impacted by changes to other objects. If you are updating an existing logical data model, you also can use traceability to match certain types of data model objects that are renamed during transformation.

    The Transform diagrams option specifies that you want to generate the diagrams that exist in the physical model and include those diagrams in the logical data model. Only diagrams with IE notation in the physical data model will be transformed. If you are creating a new logical data model, the diagrams will be generated when the transformation wizard completes. All of the objects in the diagram will be transformed. If you are updating an existing logical data model, the diagrams will be generated when the Compare editor is closed. All of the tables in diagram will be transformed into the corresponding existing or new objects in the logical data model.

  5. Complete the remaining steps of the wizard.

Results

If you specified to create a new logical data model, the logical data model is created and displayed in the Data Models folder of the data design project that you specified.

If you specified to update an existing logical data model, the Compare editor opens so that you can merge changes. If you are using traceability, all renamed table, column, entity, and attribute pairs are resolved automatically. To use traceability, the Use transformation traceability in determining renamed tables, columns, entities, and attributes option must be selected on the Data Object Compare preference page, and the traceability option must be used consistently during transformations.

If errors occur during the transformation, they are logged as entries in the Error Log view. A stack trace is attached to an error log entry, if applicable. To see the details of an error log entry, including its stack trace, double-click the entry.


Feedback