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Is the Specify data model available?

April 26, 2017Data model specify

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Is the Specify data model available?

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Specify’s data model is large with over 70 science data tables and it is downloadable from the Specify Software Project web site. A simplified conceptual data model is also available on the web site. One can access the SQL Server/MSDE schema directly with client database design tools (such as SQL Server Enterprise Manager, or SQL Server Management Studio Express). The Specify data model was derived from the output of U.S. NSF-funded national workshops in the 1990s, led by Dr. Julian Humphries. Dr. Stan Blum completed the model under the aegis of the Natural Science Collections Alliance Committee on Collections and Networking. A primary objective of those meetings was to abstract collections data concepts to a high level, so that data from all taxonomic disciplines could be integrated into a single database, and supported with a single body of software code. We implemented that model in Specify and have extended it since to accommodate evolving requirements.