2.06 Relationship Models

The common model for web sites in companies is a One-to-Many relationship (See Figure 1: Relationship models).  That is, there is one person (or group) who is responsible for the web site, while there are many people viewing the site.  This is in contrast to the original objective for the Web, with Many-to-Many relationships where many different people are discovering the Web and creating sites by themselves.  This One-to-Many relationship is a common thread throughout companies, and has been tried and tested over a long time, and it does work, when implemented correctly.

The other side of the coin, the Many-to-One aspect is commonly found as part of a larger overall site.  A good example of this is where people can leave feedback for the web master, or other designated person.  One other place to find Many-to-One sites is as part of a Many-to-Many site, where there are people working together on a project.  As part of their site they have information that is appropriate for a manager, or other people further up the chain of command.  This type of site allows collaboration between group members who will commonly use many other methods to collaborate, rather than just the Web.  The web site is likely to be a small part of the collaboration process.