How to document a database

(Note: I realize this is close to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/186392/how-do-you-document-your-database-structure , but I don't think it's identical.)

I've started work at a place with a database with literally hundreds of tables and views, all with cryptic names with very few vowels, and no documentation. They also don't allow gratuitous changes to the database schema, nor can I touch any database except the test one on my own machine (which gets blown away and recreated regularly), so I can't add comments that would help anybody.

I tried using "Toad" to create an ER diagram, but after leaving it running for 48 hours straight it still hadn't produced anything visible and I needed my computer back. I was talking to some other recent hires and we all suggested that whenever we've puzzled out what a particular table or what some of its columns means, we should update it in the developers wiki.

So what's a good way to do this? Just list tables/views and their columns and fill them in as we go? The basic tools I've got to hand are Toad, Oracle's "SQL Developer", MS Office, and Visio.

In my experience, ER (or UML) diagrams aren't the most useful artifact - with a large number of tables, diagrams (especially reverse engineered ones) are often a big convoluted mess that nobody learns anything from.

For my money, some good human-readable documentation (perhaps supplemented with diagrams of smaller portions of the system) will give you the most mileage. This will include, for each table:

• Descriptions of what the table means and how it's functionally used (in the UI, etc.)
• Descriptions of what each attribute means, if it isn't obvious
• Explanations of the relationships (foreign keys) from this table to others, and vice-versa
• Explanations of additional constraints and / or triggers
• Additional explanation of major views & procs that touch the table, if they're not well documented already

With all of the above, don't document for the sake of documenting - documentation that restates the obvious just gets in people's way. Instead, focus on the stuff that confused you at first, and spend a few minutes writing really clear, concise explanations. That'll help you think it through, and it'll massively help other developers who run into these tables for the first time.

As others have mentioned, there are a wide variety of tools to help you manage this, like Enterprise Architect, Red Gate SQL Doc, and the built-in tools from various vendors. But while tool support is helpful (and even critical, in bigger databases), doing the hard work of understanding and explaining the conceptual model of the database is the real win. From that perspective, you can even do it in a text file (though doing it in Wiki form would allow several people to collaborate on adding to that documentation incrementally - so, every time someone figures out something, they can add it to the growing body of documentation instantly).

One thing to consider is the COMMENT facility built into the DBMS. If you put comments on all of the tables and all of the columns in the DBMS itself, then your documentation will be inside the database system.

Using the COMMENT facility does not make any changes to the schema itself, it only adds data to the USER_TAB_COMMENTS catalog table.

We use Enterprise Architect for our DB definitions. We include stored procedures, triggers, and all table definitions defined in UML. The three brilliant features of the program are:

1. Import UML Diagrams from an ODBC Connection.
2. Generate SQL Scripts (DDL) for the entire DB at once
3. Generate Custom Templated Documentation of your DB.

You can edit your class / table definitions within the UML tool, and generate a fully descriptive with pictures included document. The autogenerated document can be in multiple formats including MSWord. We have just less than 100 tables in our schema, and it's quite managable.

I've never been more impressed with any other tool in my 10+ years as a developer. EA supports Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server (multiple versions), PostGreSQL, Interbase, DB2, and Access in one fell swoop. Any time I've had problems, their forums have answered my problems promptly. Highly recommended!!

When DB changes come in, we make then in EA, generate the SQL, and check it into our version control (svn). We use Hudson for building, and it auto-builds the database from scripts when it sees you've modified the checked-in sql.

(Mostly stolen from another answer of mine)

In our team we came to useful approach to documenting legacy large Oracle and SQL Server databases. We use Dataedo for documenting database schema elements (data dictionary) and creating ERD diagrams. Dataedo comes with documentation repository so all your team can work on documenting and reading recent documentation online. And you don’t need to interfere with database (Oracle comments or SQL Server MS_Description).

First you import schema (all tables, views, stored procedures and functions – with triggers, foreign keys etc.). Then you define logical domains/modules and group all objects (drag & drop) into them to be able to analyze and work on smaller chunks of database. For each module you create an ERD diagram and write top level description. Then, as you discover meaning of tables and views write a short description for each. Do the same for each column. Dataedo enables you to add meaningful title for each object and column – it’s useful if object names are vague or invalid. Pro version enables you to describe foreign keys, unique keys/constraints and triggers – which is useful but not essential to understand a database.

You can access documentation through UI or you can export it to PDF or interactive HTML (the latter is available only in Pro version).

Described here is a continuous process rather than one time job. If your database changes (eg. new columns, views) you should sync your documentation on regular basis (couple clicks with Dataedo).

See sample documentation: http://dataedo.com/download/Dataedo%20repository.pdf

Some guidelines on documentation process:

Diagrams:

• Keep your diagrams small and readable – just include important tables, relations and columns – only the one that have any meaning to understand big picture – primary/business keys, important attributes and relations,
• Use different color for key tables in a diagram,
• You can have more than one diagram per module,
• You can add diagram to description of most important tables/with most relations.

Descriptions:

• Don’t document the obvious – don’t write description “Document date” for document.date column. If there’s nothing meaningful to add just leave it blank,
• If objects stored in tables have types or statuses it’s good to list them in general description of a table,
• Define format that is expected, eg. “mm/dd/yy” for a date that is stored in text field,
• List all known/important values an it’s meaning, e.g. for status column could be something like this: “Document status: A – Active, C – Cancelled, D – Deleted”,
• If there’s any API to a table – a view that should be used to read data and function/procedures to insert/update data – list it in the description of table,
• Describe where does rows/columns’ values come from (procedure, form, interface etc.) ,
• Use “[deprecated]” mark (or similar) for columns that should not be used (title column is useful for this, explain which field should be used instead in description field).

A wiki solution supports hyperlinks and collaborative editing, but a wiki is only as good as the people who keep it organized and up to date. You need someone to take ownership of the document project, regardless of what tool you use. That person may involve other knowledgeable people to fill in the details, but one person should be responsible for organizing the information.

If you can't use a tool to generate an ERD by reverse engineering, you'll have to design one by hand using TOAD or VISIO.

Any ERD with hundreds of objects is probably useless as a guide for developers, because it'll be unreadable with so many boxes and lines. In a database with so many objects, it's likely that there are "sub-systems" of a few dozen tables and views each. So you should make custom diagrams of these sub-systems, instead of expecting a tool to do it for you.

You can also design a pseudo-ERD, where groups of tables are represented by a single object in one diagram, and that group is expanded in another diagram.

A single ERD or set of ERD's are not sufficient to document a system of this complexity, any more than a class diagram would be adequate to document an OO system. You'll have to write a document, using the ERD's as illustrations. You need text descriptions of the meaning and use of each table, each column, and the relationships between tables (especially where such relationships are implicit instead of represented by referential integrity constraints).

All of this is a lot of work, but it will be worth it. If there's a clear and up-to-date place where the schema is documented, the whole team will benefit from it.

This answer extends Kieveli's above, which I upvoted. If your version of EA supports Object Role Modeling (conceptual design, vs. logical design = ERD), reverse engineer to that and then fill out the model with the expressive richness it gives you.

The cheap and lighter-weight option is to download Visiomodeler for free from MS, and do the same with that.

The ORM (call it ORMDB) is the only tool I've ever found that supports and encourages database design conversations with non-IS stakeholders about BL objects and relationships.

Reality check - on the way to generating your DDL, it passes through a full-stop ERD phase where you can satisfy your questions about whether it does anything screwy. It doesn't. It will probably show you weaknesses in the ERD you designed yourself.

ORMDB is a classic case of the principle that the more conceptual the tool, the smaller the market. Girls just want to have fun, and programmers just want to code.

Since you have the luxury of working with fellow developers that are in the same boat, I would suggest asking them what they feel would convey the needed information, most easily. My company has over 100 tables, and my boss gave me an ERD for a specific set tables that all connect. So also, you might want to try breaking 1 massive ERD into a bunch of smaller, manageable, ERDs.

If describing your databases to your end users is your primary goal Ooluk Data Dictionary Manager can prove useful. It is a web-based multi-user software that allows you to attach descriptions to tables and columns and allows full text searches on those descriptions. It also allows you to logically group tables using labels and browse tables using those labels. Tables as well as columns can be tagged to find similar data items across your database/databases.

The software allows you to import metadata information such as table name, column name, column data type, foreign keys into its internal repository using an API. Support for JDBC data sources comes built-in and can be extended further as the API source is distributed under ASL 2.0. It is coded to read the COMMENTS/REMARKS from many RDBMSs.You can always manually override the imported information. The information you can store about tables and columns can be extended using custom fields.

The Data Dictionary Manager uses the "data object" and "attribute" terminology instead of table and column because it isn't designed specifically for relational databases.

Notes

• If describing technical aspects of your database such as triggers, indexes, statistics is important this software isn't the best option. It is however possible to combine a technical solution with this software using hyperlink custom fields.
• The software doesn't produce an ERD

Disclosure: I work at the company that develops this product.

Well, a picture tells a thousand words so I would recommend creating ER diagrams where you can view the relationship between tables at a glance, something that is hard to do with a text-only description.

You don't have to do the whole database in one diagram, break it up into sections. We use Visual Paradigm at work but EA is a good alternative as is ERWIN, and no doubt there are lots of others that are just as good.

If you have the patience, then using html to document the tables and columns makes your documentation easier to access.