Explain the strengths of each and the differences among the 12 types of data models. Create business terms, logical, and physical data models across relational, dimensional, document, and graph approaches. Apply practical techniques such as normalization, dimensional grain and meter design, JSON nested arrays, graph patterns (RDF and Property), denormalization, indexing, views, and partitioning.
Data Modeling Scheme
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level
Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Beginner level
No data modeling experience is required.
1 week to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level
Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Beginner level
No data modeling experience is required.
1 week to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Details to know
Shareable certificate
Add to your LinkedIn profile
Recently updated!
May 2026
Assessments
13 assignments
Taught in English
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There are 13 modules in this course
Become adept at identifying the characteristics used to distinguish each of the 12 different types of data models. There are three levels of detail (align, refine, and design) and four main modeling mindsets (relational, dimensional, document, and graph), leading to 12 different types of models we can create. Align is where we create the business terms model (conceptual data model) to establish a common business vocabulary. Refine is where we create the logical data model to precisely capture the business requirements. Design is where we create the physical data model to document a technology-optimized version of the business requirements. Relational helps us capture business rules, primarily for operational applications (OLTP) and large integration hubs such as data warehouses. Dimensional helps us capture business questions, primarily for analytical applications (OLAP). Document helps us capture nested structures, used for storing and retrieving highly related content (like documents). Graph helps us capture patterns in the data, used for understanding and predicting connections. We'll cover the 12 types at a high level and provide an example of each.
What's included
4 videos1 assignment
4 videos•Total 14 minutes
- About Data Modeling Schemes•3 minutes
- Business Terms Model (BTM) Overview•5 minutes
- Logical Data Model (LDM) Overview•4 minutes
- Physical Data Model (PDM) Overview•2 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Data Modeling Scheme•15 minutes
Learn all about the relational BTM and build one too! Explore several examples of the relational BTM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a relational BTM. Finally, design a relational BTM.
What's included
12 videos1 reading1 assignment
12 videos•Total 46 minutes
- Why a Business Terms Model and not a Conceptual Data Model?•1 minute
- About the Relational BTM•2 minutes
- Relational BTM Example 1 - University•6 minutes
- Relational BTM Example 2 - ERP Solution (Vendor Product)•4 minutes
- Overview on How to Build a BTM•3 minutes
- Step 1 of 5 on Building a Relational BTM: Ask the Six Strategic Questions•5 minutes
- Step 2 of 5 on Building a Relational BTM: Identify and Define the Terms•3 minutes
- Step 3 of 5 on Building a Relational BTM: Capture the Relationships•3 minutes
- Step 4 of 5 on Building a Relational BTM: Determine the Most Useful Form•4 minutes
- Step 5 of 5 on Building a Relational BTM: Review and Confirm•0 minutes
- A Data Modeling Joke•0 minutes
- Technics Publications Exercise•15 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- About the Relational BTM•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Relational BTM•15 minutes
Learn all about the dimensional BTM and build one too! Explore several examples of the dimensional BTM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a dimensional BTM. Finally, design a dimensional BTM.
What's included
10 videos1 reading1 assignment
10 videos•Total 34 minutes
- About the Dimensional BTM•2 minutes
- Dimensional BTM Example•2 minutes
- Overview on How to Build a BTM•3 minutes
- Step 1 of 5 on Building a Dimensional BTM: Ask the Six Strategic Questions•6 minutes
- Step 2 of 5 on Building a Dimensional BTM: Identify and Define the Terms•1 minute
- Step 3 of 5 on Building a Dimensional BTM: Capture the Relationships•7 minutes
- Step 4 of 5 on Building a Dimensional BTM: Determine the Most Useful Form•1 minute
- Step 5 of 5 on Building a Dimensional BTM: Review and Confirm•0 minutes
- A Data Modeling Joke•0 minutes
- Cozy Cactus Bed & Breakfast Exercise•12 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- About the Dimensional BTM•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Dimensional BTM•15 minutes
Learn all about the document BTM and build one too! Explore several examples of the document BTM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a document BTM. Finally, design a document BTM.
What's included
9 videos1 reading1 assignment
9 videos•Total 28 minutes
- About the Document BTM•2 minutes
- Document BTM Example•1 minute
- Overview on How to Build a BTM•3 minutes
- Step 1 of 5 on Building a Document BTM: Ask the Six Strategic Questions•5 minutes
- Step 2 of 5 on Building a Document BTM: Identify and Define the Terms•1 minute
- Step 3 of 5 on Building a Document BTM: Capture the Relationships•1 minute
- Step 4 of 5 on Building a Document BTM: Determine the Most Useful Form•0 minutes
- Step 5 of 5 on Building a Document BTM: Review and Confirm•0 minutes
- Technics Publications Exercise•13 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- Value of the Business Terms Model•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Document BTM•15 minutes
Learn all about the graph BTM and build one too! Explore several examples of the graph BTM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a graph BTM. Finally, design a graph BTM.
What's included
11 videos1 reading1 assignment
11 videos•Total 41 minutes
- About the Graph BTM•2 minutes
- Graph BTM Example•1 minute
- Graph Components•7 minutes
- How does a Label Property Graph (LPG) Compare with the Resource Development Framework (RDF)?•8 minutes
- Overview on How to Build a BTM•3 minutes
- Step 1 of 5 on Building a Graph BTM: Ask the Six Strategic Questions•8 minutes
- Step 2 of 5 on Building a Graph BTM: Identify and Define the Terms•2 minutes
- Step 3 of 5 on Building a Graph BTM: Capture the Relationships•1 minute
- Step 4 of 5 on Building a Graph BTM: Determine the Most Useful Form•1 minute
- Step 5 of 5 on Building a Graph BTM: Review and Confirm•0 minutes
- Cozy Cactus Bed & Breakfast Exercise•9 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- About Graph Databases Like Neo4j•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Graph BTM•30 minutes
Learn all about the relational LDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the relational LDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a relational LDM. Finally, design a relational LDM. Apply all of the levels of normalization, from First Normal Form (1NF) all the way through Fifth Normal Form (5NF)!
What's included
14 videos1 assignment
14 videos•Total 59 minutes
- About the Relational LDM•4 minutes
- Normalization Mindset•1 minute
- Normalization Overview•10 minutes
- My Approach to Normalization: The Normalization Hike•2 minutes
- The Normalization Hike Overview•6 minutes
- Starting with Chaos•6 minutes
- First Normal Form (1NF)•7 minutes
- Second Normal Form (2NF)•3 minutes
- Third Normal Form (3NF)•1 minute
- Boyce/Codd Normal Form (BCNF)•4 minutes
- Fourth (4NF) and Fifth Normal Form (5NF)•4 minutes
- Summary of Normalization Rules•1 minute
- A Data Modeling Joke•0 minutes
- Technics Publications Exercise•9 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Relational LDM•30 minutes
Learn all about the dimensional LDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the dimensional LDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a dimensional LDM. Finally, design a dimensional LDM.Compare and contrast the dimensional modeling components of measure, meter, dimension, and grain. Apply the best practices of dimensional modeling through a series of what-to-do and what-not-to-do guidelines for your modeling in analytics applications.Become competent in incorporating different types of measures and dimensions into your models.
What's included
13 videos1 assignment
13 videos•Total 57 minutes
- About the Dimensional LDM•3 minutes
- Measure, Meter, and Dimension•4 minutes
- The Importance of Choosing the Right Grain•3 minutes
- Fun with Measures and Grain•4 minutes
- Dimensional Models are Built for Navigation•6 minutes
- Three Types of Measures: Transaction, Snapshot, and Accumulating•6 minutes
- Examples of Each Type of Measure•4 minutes
- Do's of Dimensional Modeling•7 minutes
- Don'ts of Dimensional Modeling•6 minutes
- Additional Dimensional Logical Structures: Conformed Dimension•4 minutes
- Additional Dimensional Logical Structures: Factless Facts•1 minute
- Additional Dimensional Logical Structures: Behavioral Dimensional•2 minutes
- Cozy Cactus Bed & Breakfast Exercise•7 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Dimensional LDM•30 minutes
Learn all about the document LDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the document LDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a document LDM. Finally, design a document LDM.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 assignment
3 videos•Total 21 minutes
- About the Document LDM•2 minutes
- Building the Document LDM•6 minutes
- Technics Publications Exercise•13 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- The Document Model of MongoDB•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Document LDM•15 minutes
Learn all about the graph LDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the graph LDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a graph LDM. Finally, design a graph LDM.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 assignment
3 videos•Total 15 minutes
- About the Graph LDM•3 minutes
- Building the Graph LDM•7 minutes
- Cozy Cactus Bed & Breakfast Exercise•5 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- Nuances of Graph Logical Data Modeling in Neo4j•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Graph LDM•15 minutes
Learn all about the relational PDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the relational PDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. There are four main techniques used as building blocks in the physical: denormalization, indexing, views, and partitioning. Explain the different ways to denormalize and know the pros and cons of each technique. Contrast the different types of indexes and know the default translations from logical to physical. Define views and know the pros and cons of traditional versus materialized views. Describe horizontal and vertical partitioning, and know when to use each.
What's included
11 videos1 assignment
11 videos•Total 52 minutes
- About the PDM•6 minutes
- Denormalization Overview•5 minutes
- Denormalization: Standard and Repeating Attributes•7 minutes
- Denormalization: Variation of Repeating Attributes (Nested Arrays)•3 minutes
- Denormalization: Summarization•1 minute
- Denormalization: Aggregation•6 minutes
- Indexing•6 minutes
- Views•6 minutes
- Partitioning•5 minutes
- A Data Modeling Joke•0 minutes
- Technics Publications Exercise•7 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Relational PDM•30 minutes
Learn all about the dimensional PDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the dimensional PDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a dimensional PDM. Finally, design a dimensional PDM. Apply several modeling techniques specific to dimensional physical modeling, including the use of junk and degenerate dimensions.
What's included
9 videos1 assignment
9 videos•Total 33 minutes
- Star Schema•2 minutes
- Snowflake•5 minutes
- Slowly Changing Dimension Overview•4 minutes
- Slowly Changing Dimensions Types 0 and 1•4 minutes
- Slowly Changing Dimension Type 2•6 minutes
- Slowly Changing Dimension Type 3•3 minutes
- Degenerate Dimension•2 minutes
- Junk Dimension•3 minutes
- Cozy Cactus Bed & Breakfast Exercise•4 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
- Dimensional PDM•30 minutes
Learn all about the document PDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the document PDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a document PDM. Finally, design a document PDM.
What's included
2 videos1 reading1 assignment
2 videos•Total 8 minutes
- Building the Document PDM•5 minutes
- Technics Publications Exercise•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- An Example of a Document Pattern in MongoDB: The Approximation Pattern•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Document PDM•15 minutes
Learn all about the graph PDM and build one too! Explore several examples of the graph PDM to fully experience the characteristics of this type of model. Next, journey through the steps in building a graph PDM. Finally, design a graph PDM.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 assignment
3 videos•Total 10 minutes
- About the Graph PDM•2 minutes
- Building the Graph PDM•5 minutes
- Cozy Cactus Bed & Breakfast Exercise•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- About Design and Neo4j•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 15 minutes
- Graph PDM•15 minutes
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