Entity Definitions

Descriptions

A description should be a clear and concise statement that tells whether an object is or is not the thing you are trying to define. Often such descriptions can be fairly short. Be careful, however, that the description is not too general or uses terms that are not defined. Here are a couple of examples, one of good quality and one that is questionable:

Example of good description:

A COMMODITY is something that has a value that can be determined in an exchange.

This is a good description since, after reading it, you know that something is a COMMODITY if someone is, or would be, willing to trade something for it. If someone is willing to give you three peanuts and a stick of gum for a marble, then you know that a marble is a COMMODITY.

Example of bad description:

A CUSTOMER is someone who buys something from our company.

This is not a good description since you can easily misunderstand the word “someone” if you know that the company also sells products to other businesses. Also, the business may want to track potential CUSTOMERs, not just those who have already bought something from the company. You can also define “something” more fully to describe whether the sale is of products, services, or some combination of the two.

Business Examples

It is a good idea to provide typical business examples of the thing being defined, since good examples can go a long way to help the reader understand a definition. Comments about peanuts, marbles, or something related to your business can help a reader to understand the concept of a COMMODITY. The definition states that a commodity has value. The example can help to show that value is not always measured in money.

Comments

You can also include general comments about who is responsible for the definition and who is the source, what state it is in, and when it was last changed as a part of the definition. For some entities, you may also need to explain how it and a related entity or entity name differ. For instance, a CUSTOMER might be distinguished from a PROSPECT.

40 Methods Guide