Glossary

What is a Data Model?

A data model is an abstract model that organizes elements of data and standardizes how they relate to one another and to the properties of real-world entities. For instance, a data model may specify that the data element representing a car should be composed of several other elements which, in turn, represent the color and size of the car and define its owner.

Why are Data Models important?

Businesses use data models to communicate between a computer system’s requirements and the technical people defining the design in response to those requirements. Created by business processes, they are used to show the data needed and determine that data’s structure. Data models are specified in a data modeling notation, which is often graphical in form. A data model sometimes can be referred to as a data structure, especially in programming languages.

How C3 AI Enables Organizations to Use Data Models

Core to the C3 AI^® Data Integrator is the concept of a canonical data model – a design pattern used to communicate and translate between different data formats. A common enterprise integration pattern, it is intended to reduce costs and standardize integration on agreed data definitions associated with business systems. A canonical model is application agnostic, creating a common format that lets all applications communicate with each other. C3 AI Platform enables the definition of canonical types that are independent from any specific application so that all applications can communicate with each other in this common format.