Artefact: Business Data & Existing Collateral

This is the amalgamation of what the Sparx Model Manager (or the person doing the import) receives, and is typically the outputs of business analysts, project managers, other database administrators. It can also include data source directly from business stakeholders - e.g. a locally managed database or Excel file that contains lists of business entities.<br/>It can be highly structured data, usually in Excel format, with only piece of data in a cell. Or it can be unstructured and/or badly-formed data, which will require <b><i>interpretation</i></b> and transformation to get it into a usable state, e.g. <br/><ul>
<li>when Excel has been used as a presentation tool</li><li>PowerPoint slides</li><li>Other picture-based tools, such as Visio</li></ul>
The interpretation is key here and, as a result, will often entail several iterations. This is why it is essential that the imported data can be easily deleted or re-purposed (e.g. migrate the data from one part of the meta-model to another).<br/><br/>