Relational database modelling is vastly different than the types of data structures that application developers use. Using the data structures as modelled by the developers to solve different problem domains has given rise to movement away from relational modelling and towards aggregate models, most of this is driven by Domain Driven Design, a book by Eric Evans. An aggregate is a collection of data that we interact with as a unit. These units of data or aggregates form the boundaries for ACID operations with the database, Key-value, Document, and Column-family databases can all be seen as forms of aggregate-oriented database.