The Elephant in the Fridge: Guided Steps to Data Vault Success through Building Business-Centered Models

Data modeling is not new, and John does a good job of summarizing the thought leadership from the past 25+ years, before expressing his own thoughts -- in a personal and engaging style.

Following on from John's earlier book, The Nimble Elephant, John has produced another practical exposé into the world of Data Vault modelling. Whether you are a high-level exec, a technical database developer, or simply someone interested in data modelling, this book is a must read. Broken into easy to follow chapters, John uses his Aussie humour to take the reader on a journey through multiple aspects of Data Vault data modelling. Based on multiple decades of experience, John explains the benefits (and pitfalls) of various approaches to building and implementing a Data Vault design.John advocates a top down and bottom up approach. He gives multiple examples, based on real life experiences. John’s book makes multiple references to both Dan Linstedt’s DV 2.0 and Hans Hultgren’s ensemble modelling. John explains what is meant by an Ontology, Taxonomy and inheritance. There’s a delightful mix of non-technical, Business like explanations, plus in depth technical and design considerations. You can simply jump to specific chapters based on your disposition.John also conveys some pitfalls and actual examples of where Data Vault projects have not worked and the reasons why. Things like semantics and grain, passive integration, and source system driven hubs. All of which have significant negative impacts. John’s book covers these with actual examples of what practitioners have tried to do that have ended in failure.All in all this book is a great read. It is a great book to have before, during and after a Data Vault modelling project. I would recommend this to all levels. It is something that will get used again and again.

Really nice and thorough.