Reading A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander has given me some ideas about modeling data for enterprise IT systems. I’ll jump right in to my stream of conciousness. If the organization is viewed as a space in which different types of entities interact to accomplish the goals of the organization then we can define these entities in spacial terms such as Alexander lays out a town with its neighborhoods, shopping centers, buildings, roads and etc. This provides a structure for thinking about how the organization operates and what function IT applications perform within that organization. (more…)