📝 Common Data Model — A high-level representation of the key subjects and relationships important to an organisation.
A Common Data Model (CDM) is a model of ‘what the business deals with.’
It contains a shared representation of the concepts, entities, and relationships that matter to an organisation. It provides a common language that helps people communicate consistently, integrate information, and make better decisions.
A CDM identifies the entities of interest to an organisation, such as customers, products, suppliers, employees, assets, and transactions, and describes how they relate to one another. By establishing shared definitions and relationships, a CDM reduces ambiguity, improves communication, and supports collaboration across teams and functions.
Within Adapt, Survive and Flourish, a CDM and the Business Capability Model (BCM) form the foundation layer of the organisation’s shared knowledge foundation. Together they create a common understanding of both what an organisation does and what it deals with.
In simple terms:
- BCM = What we do.
- CDM = What we deal with.
Used together, BCMs and CDMs support coordination, learning, knowledge sharing, and adaptive decision-making by providing a shared language for understanding organisational reality. The models are closely related to each other, and once they are developed, they are stable over time. Such stability is invaluable in complex and uncertain times.
Related Glossary Items:
- Business Capability Model (BCM)
- Enterprise Architecture
- Shared Mental Models
- Knowledge Operating System
- Sensemaking
Related Source Notes
Common Data Models and Organisational Meaning
Source Note: Enterprise Architecture – The Language of Business Design
Source Note – Preventing Silo Culture after a Merger
Source Note: Knowledge Operating System
Source Note – Shared Mental Models
Systems Thinking as a Sensemaking Lens
Related Subject Areas
Subject Area: Data Modelling — Negotiating Meaning
Subject Area: Enterprise Architecture — Foundation of Shared Knowledge