The Agile Data (AD) Method

Catalog of Database Refactorings: Non-Refactoring Transformations

by Scott W. Ambler

A non-refactoring transformation is a change which affects the semantics of your database schema by adding new elements to it or by modifying existing elements.

Transformation Example
Insert Data. Add new data into an existing table.

 

Introduce New Column. Add a new column into an existing table.

 

Introduce New Table. Add a new table into an existing database.

 

Introduce View. Add a new view based on existing tables within the database.

 

Update Data. Update data within an existing table.

 


Source

Database refactorings
This book describes, in detail, how to refactor a database schema to improve its design. The first section of the book overviews the fundamentals evolutionary database techniques in general and of database refactoring in detail. More importantly it presents strategies for implementing and deploying database refactorings, in the context of both “simple” single application databases and in “complex” multi-application databases. The second section, the majority of the book, is a database refactoring reference catalog. It describes over 60 database refactorings, presenting data models overviewing each refactoring and the code to implement it.

 


Recommended Reading

Choose Your WoW! 2nd Edition
This book, Choose Your WoW! A Disciplined Agile Approach to Optimizing Your Way of Working (WoW) – Second Edition, is an indispensable guide for agile coaches and practitioners. It overviews key aspects of the Disciplined Agile® (DA™) tool kit. Hundreds of organizations around the world have already benefited from DA, which is the only comprehensive tool kit available for guidance on building high-performance agile teams and optimizing your WoW. As a hybrid of the leading agile, lean, and traditional approaches, DA provides hundreds of strategies to help you make better decisions within your agile teams, balancing self-organization with the realities and constraints of your unique enterprise context.

 

I also maintain an agile database books page which overviews many books you will find interesting.