Rating: 
Summary: Time and money
Review: This book provide a truly comprehensive description and analysis of industry specific data models. Having work extensensivly in Data Warehousing in the Banking world, I was still able to get some good hints for my projects (and improvement suggestions for already implemented data warehouse)I would suggest any data modeler to read its industry specific chapter before a new project. Also, I would not recommend to duplicate these models : they allow you to focus on the "firm specific" side of your model, so take the benefit of time to customize it rather than duplicate it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, best practice industry data models!
Review: This book provides an extremely comprehensive and useful set of industry data models. They have been a tremendous value to us by allowing us to reference best-practice designs on our projects as well as being able to save a great deal of time by not having to re-invent the wheel for standard data modeling structures. The models are extremely well thought out and offer insight into both effective ways of modeling as well as pitfalls to be careful of. The author shows extensive knowledge and expertise in the various industries that are provided. We have used many of the models from the health care, insurance, professional services and e-commerce models to give us a kick-start on data modeling projects as well as to double check our designs and make sure we didn't overlook anything important and we did end up modifying and improving many of our data models based upon ideas from this book. The books offers an optional electronic download of the SQL for each industry for $400 but this is not at all necessary to benefit from the templates offered in the book because the book provides detailed data model constructs showing everything necessary to implement the models including primary and foreign key structures, attributes, relationship and attribute optionality, cardinalities of relationships, full explanations of the rationale behind each model, and even data examples for most of the models and attributes. We licensed the electronic download also and it saved us some time instead of having to manually enter the models from the book, however, the book without the electronic downloads is complete in and of itself, and it is amazing that one can buy an extensive library of industry data models for the cost of this book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, best practice industry data models!
Review: This is an excellent companion to Volume 1 and well worth the cost for not only the book, but also the industry specific CDs. There is a separate CD for each industry specific data model, however it wouldn't take long for a person to buy just the book and end up spending more in man-hours trying to create the data model from the book, which isn't a very good use of your time. Buy the CD also. My organization found this book a tremendous help on one of our projects. The time saved on just one project will more than pay for the book and CD. This is not a how-to for data modeling, however I believe it should be purchased along with your how-to book if you are interested in learning I know there are other universal data models available. However the others I've seen are either very simple, don't have a CD, and don't have near the content as these models, or they are unbelievably expensive.
Rating:
Summary: Also buy Volume 2!
Review: This is an excellent companion to Volume 1 and well worth the cost for not only the book, but also the industry specific CDs. There is a separate CD for each industry specific data model, however it wouldn't take long for a person to buy just the book and end up spending more in man-hours trying to create the data model from the book, which isn't a very good use of your time. Buy the CD also. My organization found this book a tremendous help on one of our projects. The time saved on just one project will more than pay for the book and CD. This is not a how-to for data modeling, however I believe it should be purchased along with your how-to book if you are interested in learning I know there are other universal data models available. However the others I've seen are either very simple, don't have a CD, and don't have near the content as these models, or they are unbelievably expensive.
Rating:
Summary: The Next Step for the Hardcore Database Developer
Review: Universal data models (such as those in Silverston's Data Model Resource Book (Volume 1)) provide a head start when developing applications. Translating these models from abstract concepts to real-world applications hasn't always been easy. In this book, Silverston has taken the first step by publishing industry-specific versions of his models. This volume has specific models for Manufacturing, TeleCommunications, Heath Care, Insurance, Financial Services, Professional Services, Travel and E-Commerce. Each model has a detailed discussion of how the universal model was adapted for the industry. It's easier to edit an existing model than create one from scratch. I don't get paid by the hour, so I expect that my copy of this book will become well-worn and dog-eared.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is an advertisement for the [price] download
Review: What a [scheme]. I thought I was purchasing some templates - generic data models oriented for specific industries. This book is a teaser for the author's electronic products, which contain the real templates. This book has just enough information to lead you to believe the electronic product is plausable, but not enough to really use the data models discussed(without the expensive downloads). I expected a bunch of entities with the PK and FK attributes ready for customizing with my company specific attributes... NOT.
Rating:
Summary: Is it worth buying a book for only one chapter?
Review: Yes, it is. Because the other chapters have all sorts of useful content as well. This book covers Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Health Care, Insurance, Financial Services, Professional Services, Travel, and e-Commerce. Most companies, even if they aren't in those sectors, use the services of companies that are (or may do a little bit of them - offer insurance on their products, for example), and if you need to include these areas in your model, in more detail than was covered in volume 1 (the core Universal Data Model book), then this is the place to start. If you are in one of these areas, then the specific chapter has a lot of useful stuff (I have worked in Travel, Telecommunications and Professional Services), but it is well worth checking out the other models for ideas that can be re-used in your area.
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