Data Warehousing – A Simple, Practical Approach

Data warehousing and business intelligence circles are filled with experts. These experts have created elaborate models to describe how to format tables into schemas, etc.  Business intelligence gurus have outlined elaborate ways of creating reports, cubes, graphs, and the list goes on, and on, and on.  Don’t you wish there was a simpler way; a no-nonsense, practical approach.  Well, I hope to offer you one.

I will offer several simple principles to lead you through a practical approach to data warehousing and business intelligence.  This simple model consists of three parts:

  • Liberate the data
    — Acquiring and preparing the data, such terms as ETL (extract-transform-load), Schema, etc.
    — Guiding Principle: Data is an Asset, Optimize your Assets
  • Democratize the data
    — Reporting of all kinds, this part is where the data is accessed by the end users
    — Guiding Principle: Information is power, if where and when needed, comprehensive, and transparent
  • Underlying Processes
    — How will we keep the data warehouse growing with the organization, communicate with users, and make the data warehouse easy to use
    — Guiding Principle: Be an easy place to do business

Future posts will address important concepts such as “Data is the artifact of a process,” “User created data,” “How users use data,” and “Metadata & data lineage.”  I hope you feel as I do, data warehousing and business intelligence should be practical, easy to understand, and no-nonsense.

So, why listen to me?  Well, I had the privilege to lead the charge and work with a group of very talented folks that merged the data warehouses during the merger of Verizon’s Information Services organization.  We made some mistakes and we did some things right.  Most of all, we did not go purely based on some model.  We took the best of all the available models and got it done. I have taken this approach and applied it in other environments. It works. You chose if this information is helpful.

Until next time!

Dr. Dave

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