Penshurst intros dbAnnotator for SQL Server

BANGALORE, INDIA: Penshurst Inc. announces the release of dbAnnotator, the first comprehensive annotation tool for SQL Server Management Studio.

dbAnnotator's multi-page rich text annotations are a radical improvement over the meta-data (MS_Description) mechanism built into SQL Server.

Using dbAnnotator, database designers, SQL coders, application builders, and report writers can add rich text and picture annotations to the objects in a SQL Server database. Annotations are displayed automatically as the user browses database objects in Management Studio.

Unlike meta-data, annotations are stored in a repository separate from the subject database. This allows one set of annotations to be applied to multiple copies of the database. It also means the user can create annotations without any special permissions in the subject database, as a result dbAnnotator is useful throughout the lifecycle of the database, and serves all users.

dbAnnotator‘s multi-page rich text annotations are a radical improvement over the meta-data (MS_Description) mechanism built into SQL Server. Meta-data annotations are rarely used for a number of reasons: the meta-data viewer in Management Studio is practically hidden, it doesn’t handle rich text or diagrams, and because the meta-data is part of the structure of the database, you need DBA-level permissions to edit it. That might be possible during development of the database but once it’s in production, very few people have this level of access.

dbAnnotator permits anyone to see, and edit, any annotation at any time. Annotations are updated in response to change and can address the needs of all constituencies of database workers, not just the original developer.

Nigel Taylor, president of Penshurst Inc. puts it this way: “Database developers typically start the documentation ball rolling, but during ramp-up and once the system is in service dbAnnotator lets administrators and users add annotation pages and small diagrams to explain table relationships better, describe business rules, document problems, and plan future changes."

"These annotations much more used and useful than a big rat’s nest diagram, or an out-of-date list of tables and columns shoved in a drawer. dbAnnotator gives you real, living, up-to-the-minute documentation for your database,” added Taylor.