Talkin’ Tech

A Brief Introduction to ANSI/SPARC Architecture

© Ken McDuff, 2008

The ANSI-SPARC architecture was first information is arranged within the database;
proposed in 1975 by the American National and the internal (or physical) level defines
Standards Institute’s Standards Planning and how data is organized, stored, and accessed
Requirements Committee (ANSI/SPARC), (see Figure 1).
directed by Charles Bachman, to define a set
of schema types to characterize the structure
of data. Forty-two schema types were
originally proposed, but this was simplified
into what became known as the “three-
schema architecture.” Although the standard
was never formalized, many modern
commercial database management systems
are based on the ANSI/SPARC model.
The architecture separates the unique
views of database users from the physical
configuration of the database, which allows
each user to maintain a customized view of
the data from his/her perspective, hiding
details of the data’s physical storage from the
users. To accomplish this, the architecture
identifies three levels representing different
degrees of abstraction (Bachman, 1969): 1) the
external level defines the various views of the
users; the conceptual level defines how Figure 1. ANSI/SPARC Three-Level Architecture

A further description of each of these levels
follows.
The External Level. This level represents
the views of the people who run an enterprise
and their individual perspectives of the
company’s systems, procedures, and data.
This schema represents data at a highly-
abstract, nonsystem-specific level that
corresponds to Row Two of John Zachman’s
enterprise architecture framework; that is, the
business owner’s view. Data models at this
level should provide a somewhat simplistic
model of the enterprise’s data in a way that
can be understood by the stakeholders. Using
Enterprise Data Modeling (EDM) or simple
Entity-Relationship diagrams (ERDs) are
helpful for this purpose.
The Conceptual Level. This level
involves the development of a data model
that represents the fundamental structures of
the enterprise and is roughly equivalent to
Zachman’s third row, the architect’s view. At
this level, the various views defined at the
external level are combined into a single,
coherent representation of the data elements
of the enterprise and their relationship to
other data elements without regard to how
the data might be stored. Because the
conceptual level provides an all-
encompassing view of the enterprise data, it
is sometimes referred to as the “community”
level. Semantic data modeling tools such as
ERDs, IDEF1X, ORM, and UML diagrams are
useful in representing data structures at the
conceptual level.
ANSI/SPARC Architecture
The Internal Level. This level may be
seen to include both a logical schema
corresponding to Zachman’s fourth row, the
designer’s view, and a physical schema
corresponding to Zachman’s fifth row, the
builder’s view. (It may be argued that the
logical schema belongs at the conceptual
level, but it is commonly associated with the
physical level.) The logical schema describes
the data structured in a such a way that it can
be accessed and manipulated, and the
physical schema describes the systems used
to store the data (Hay, 2003; Navathe, 1992).
The following principles of database
management are inherent in the ANSI/
SPARC standard:
• The physical level may be modified
independently of the conceptual level
(physical independence), implying as
well that the conceptual level may be
modified without disrupting the
physical level (logical independence).
Therefore, any changes in database
structures by the administrator are
transparent to the users.
• People who are unfamiliar with the
database schema must be able to
query the database without
referencing its technical components
(ease-of-use).
• The database administrator must be
able to manipulate data, add data
elements, and verify their integrity
through a centralized system
(centralized administration).
• Redundant information should be
minimized to prevent errors and
wasted memory, and the data must be
2
 internally coherent (integrity
verification).
• The database management system
must allow for multiple users to
access the database simultaneously
(data sharing) while ensuring that
data is secure by managing the user’s
access rights (data security) (“Data
Levels,” 2008).
The most significant contribution of the ANSI
\SPARC standard was the introduction of an
integrated conceptual view of enterprise data,
separating it from any one user’s perspective
of the data as well as from any particular
application or physical storage configuration.
_____________________

References
Bachman, Charles W. (1969, July). Data structure
diagrams [PDF]. ACM SIGMUS Database 1(2),
4-10. URL http://portal.acm.org/
citation.cfm?doid=1017466.1017467.
“Data Levels” (2008, October 16). URL http://
en.kioskea.net/contents/bdd/bddansi.php3.
Hay, David (2003, February 1). What exactly IS a
data model? Information Management
Magazine. URL http://www.information-
management.com/issues/
20030201/6281-1.html.

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