Introduction to PPDM Lite 1.1

The PPDM 3.7 data model, released to the PPDM Membership in spring 2004, contains over 1,200 tables and 24,000 columns covering 45 subject areas in the energy sector. This robust and comprehensive data model is very effective for managing data and processes in transactional systems, or for use as a corporate master data store.

However, for some functions, such as management decision support systems, or GIS browsing applications it is more practical to present a warehouse style data summary to users. In 2004, the PPDM membership recommended that this kind of high level, rolled up version of PPDM 3.7 be designed.

The resulting light weight model, released publicly, is PPDM Lite. In some implementations, PPDM Lite may be thought of as a simple warehouse or data mart model. If desired, PPDM Lite may be spatially enabled using a GIS system. For most implementations, PPDM Lite will be maintained through automated processes from PPDM 3.7. Synchronization procedures are provided to members of the PPDM Association.

The PPDM Association provides examples illustrating how to spatially enable PPDM Lite using ESRI, Oracle and Postgres, but the reader should be aware that there are other spatial applications that could be used effectively. The PPDM Association does not recommend any specific set of GIS tools; the examples are provided simply to illustrate possible implementation scenarios.

Every implementation of PPDM Lite, whether spatially enabled or not, should be designed to meet the needs of the user community within the company, the requirements of corporate data management recommendations and the existing technical environment.