Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
or application system should be noted here. If it is known that this data is
not captured currently, that should also be noted. Finally, include any details
that were shared about where this type of data may be found. The intent is to
provide a complete picture about the data that the business community would
like to use for analysis and reporting.
Identification of Non-Data Warehouse Requirements
While conducting interview sessions, the project team often learns about other
concerns that are not specific to a data warehouse. If the biggest and most
often reported data-related pain point is the need for consistent and accu-
rate customer and vendor contact information, then perhaps there is a
need to develop a centralized directory database that will be used by all
operational applications. This is a highly visible and critical business require-
ment, but not something that a data warehouse delivers. Note these types
of non-data-warehouse requirements in the documentation, but clearly label
them. During the interview session, identify such items as
not
a data ware-
house function, and indicate that you can't comment on if, when, or how this
can or will be addressed, but that the project team is willing to share this
information with the appropriate systems personnel.
Common Requirements Gathering Challenges
Many other techniques are used to gather requirements for other systems
projects, although a lot of the techniques are not successful in the long run for a
data warehouse. This section reviews the most common pitfalls and challenges
that you are likely to face while gathering requirements.
Sifting Through Reports
While looking at the existing reports can be done, it will not actually provide
the project with requirements that result in a design to support the organization
into the future. Rather, this provides details about what has been developed
in the past. One thing that is used to improve this approach is to capture
the frequency with which the report is run. However, this does not tell you
whether anyone looks at the report results or what the report is used for.
Typically, an existing report is simply one step in a complex set of activities
that results in the report that is actually provided to management to be used
for decision making.
It can be helpful to dig into more detail for those reports identified by
the business as being useful. This may be done during an interview or as a
follow-up. Either way, it is important to understand why a given report is
useful and what is it used for. Studying reports should not take the place of
understanding the business themes.
