tietomalli

Tietomalli, or data model, is a structured representation of data elements and their relationships within a system or domain. It describes data structures, types, keys, constraints and the semantics governing how information is stored and used.

Its primary purpose is to support data management, integration and governance, as well as system design, development and analytics. A well-defined tietomalli enables consistent data definitions across applications and processes and facilitates data quality and interoperability.

Core components include entities or objects, their attributes, primary and foreign keys, relationships between entities, and business rules expressed as constraints and metadata.

Models are typically categorized as conceptual, logical and physical. A conceptual model provides a high level view of what data is important; a logical model adds structure such as tables, columns and normalization; a physical model maps the logical design to a specific database schema and storage considerations. In data warehousing, dimensional models are used; semantic or ontology-based models support knowledge graphs.

Common notations and languages for tietomalli include ER diagrams and UML class diagrams, relational schemas, and XML or JSON schemas for exchange. Standards such as ISO/IEC 11179 for metadata and domain-specific guidelines often influence modeling practices.

Modeling typically follows a lifecycle from requirements elicitation and validation with stakeholders to implementation, maintenance and governance, with versioning and metadata management to track changes.

Applications span database design, system integration, data migration, master data management, and analytics. A simple example is a customer and orders model: a Customer entity with id, name and address linked to an Order entity with id, date, amount and a customer-id foreign key.

In Finland and other Nordic contexts, tietomalli is a core concept in enterprise architecture and IT projects, helping teams align business terminology with technical data structures.