Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
of the organization, or one group may have specific requirements such as the
need for integrated sales and marketing data to improve promotion effective-
ness. To start a DW project, certain standard tasks need to be accomplished.
The first step is usually to create a
project charter
, a high-level proposal to get
resources allocated to further define the project.
Setting Up the Project Charter
A project charter is the written proposal that is used to communicate the
business case to fund the project. This is typically developed by business
representatives with input from their IT counterparts. Then, the project charter
is used by the organization's management to decide whether there is enough
potential value to pursue the project. The objective is to get permission to
move to the next step of fully fleshing out the project, which is described in
the next section.
It can be dangerous for a business group to set up a charter for a DW project
without any input from IT. For example, it is easy for a business group to
define a project that is not feasible due to limitations in the organization's data.
It is also just as dangerous for IT to set up a project charter without appropriate
input from the business. This can lead to a project that moves data but does
not support real business objectives. This effort to develop the project charter
should be led by an individual, either business or IT, who has strong project
management skills, knowledge of the business area to be supported, and, if
possible, a basic understanding of data warehousing.
The project charter is a broad description of what the project sets out to
accomplish. It must be written so that anyone can read and understand the
content without having intimate knowledge of the data warehouse or this spe-
cific project. It is a general-purpose document that should be understandable
to others in the organization. It should not provide details that are generally
known by anyone working for the organization, such as a description of what
the claims handling group does. A general description of the project is needed,
along with the project deliverables, or what the project will produce.
Estimated effort and schedule should also be included in the project charter.
Given general project experience and some data warehouse knowledge, a
general timeline can be set. For example, a project to develop a comprehensive
data warehouse strategy could take a couple of weeks to get the project off
the ground, four weeks to gather requirements, and another month to create,
document, present, and refine the strategy. This would total a ten-week effort.
This general timeframe can be used to develop a rough cost estimate. Using a
fully loaded personnel cost of $100,000 per year, this ten-week project with an
average of three people would be about $60,000. This estimate is from a very
high level and may change as specific project details are defined.
It is helpful to identify project costs that are an investment in setting
up a good data warehouse foundation, such as hardware and software
