A canonical model is a

design pattern A design pattern is the re-usable form of a solution to a design problem. The idea was introduced by the architect Christopher Alexander and has been adapted for various other disciplines, particularly software engineering. The " Gang of Four" b ...

used to communicate between different data formats. Essentially: create a data model which is a superset of all the others ("canonical"), and create a "translator" module or layer to/from which all existing modules exchange data with other modules. The individual modules can then be considered endpoints on an intelligent bus; the bus centralises all the data-translation intelligence. A form of enterprise application integration, it is intended to reduce costs and standardize on agreed data definitions associated with integrating business systems. A canonical model is any model that is

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...

in nature, i.e. a model which is in the simplest form possible based on a standard, application integration (EAI) solution. Most organizations also adopt a set of standards for message structure and content (message payload). The desire for consistent message payload results in the construction of an enterprise or business domain canonical model common view within a given context. Often the term canonical model is used interchangeably with integration strategy and often entails a move to a message-based integration methodology. A typical migration from point-to-point canonical data model, an enterprise design pattern which provides common data naming, definition and values within a generalized data framework. Advantages of using a canonical data model are reducing the number of data translations and reducing the maintenance effort. Adoption of a comprehensive enterprise interfacing to message-based integration begins with a decision on the

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...

to be used to transport messages between endpoints. Often this decision results in the adoption of an enterprise service bus (ESB) or enterprise application integration (EAI) solution. Most organizations also adopt a set of standards for message structure and content (message payload). The desire for consistent message payload results in the construction of an enterprise form of

XML schema An XML schema is a description of a type of Extensible Markup Language, XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed ...

built from the common model objects thus providing the desired consistency and re-usability while ensuring data integrity.

References

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External links

Forrester Research, Canonical Model Management Forum

Canonical Model, Canonical Schema, and Event Driven SOA

Forrester Research, Canonical Information Modeling

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Enterprise application integration Enterprise architecture Enterprise modelling Software design patterns

See also

References

External links