Pascal Borghino, working in my team, is posting about Modeling, UML, databases and the apropriate tools to use. He is mostly ranting that MagicDraw UML is not providing him the extended functions he needs in a Database Modeling tool.

While I understand his frustration, I think he is mispelling the problem: MagicDraw is not a DB Development Tool !

For the realization of a software or a db scheme, there is always a moment when you have to stop modeling and start developing the stuff you want to deliver. At that moment, you also change the tool you are using in order to have the appropriate features for the development activity. While working with Java, I will stop using MagicDraw and start using Eclipse JDT. For a DB Scheme, you will start to use the development tools provided by the database vendor or any other third party (preferably open-source, naturally). Usually, those tools have bridges allowing to translate a UML model into the corresponding elements in the target environment.

To know when to stop modeling and start developing is difficult. It's common to see software developers stoping too soon and then having a model without sufficient information to understand their software. The opposite trap is also common : stopping modeling too late and then having a model so complex that it's sometimes easier to read the code directly. To avoid that second trap, changing the tool you are using in your work is then an advantage because it ensures that you will update the model with only the necessary information. Moreover, it ensures that you will use a tool that is perfectly suited to the task in each step of the realization.

I think that when you reach the point where the target database becomes a very important question to continue your work, you already are past that moment.