Definitions | ELM Standards

Common used in business mapping and ELM:

Core Business Concept (CBC)- Any concepts that are important for the organization in their own words. They can be categorized as events, persons, things, places or other concepts. These concepts are commonly used and understood by business users. A CBC is specifically not a technical construct, nor is it a generalized or abstract concept.
Natural Business Relationship (NBR)- This describes how the identified CBCs are related to each other based on how the organization understands them. All NBRs should be unique and specific. If the organization can interpret several relationships between the same CBCs, there will be multiple relations. This is specifically not a technical construct, nor is it a generalized or abstract concept.
Ensemble- An ensemble represents an event, person, thing, place, or other concept in a Data Vault model. The ensemble is the general equivalent of the entity in a traditional relational model, such as third normal form (3NF). It is also similar to the concept in conceptual modeling and it can also be generally recognized as a dimension in dimensional modeling.
Ensemble Logical Model (ELM)- This is a logical representation of the identified CBCs and NBRs. It can be seen as a logical data model ready to be implemented into a physical data model. Reading and creating an ELM does not need any technical knowledge of databases.

The ELM artifacts are:

CBC List- A listing of all named core business concepts, categorized into event, person, place, thing, or other.
CBC Canvas- A canvas artifact to guide and visualize the process of discussing synonyms, hierarchies, levels, and additional core business concepts.
CBC Form- A form for CBC disambiguation providing a brief description/definition, including certain attribution, related events, subject areas, synonyms, etc.
Event Canvas- A document that helps with the design and refinement of existing relationships. It is also an important manuscript for data delivery teams.
NBR Matrix- A listing of all named natural business relations. This will hold all relations as identified from the events plus all other unique and specific NBRs recognized in the ELM process.
NBR Form- A form used to describe the various relationships of the model. Furthermore, it allows for the right grain, precision, and cardinality of each relationship to be investigated.