Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
everyone moving in the same direction. There are always new crisises that
need to be addressed. Both business and IT staff spin from one crisis to the
next, which leaves little time to invest in long-term efforts. This is usually
viewed as an advantage, rather than a challenge.
However, developing a successful data warehouse requires spending time
on things that may not have immediate benefits but will indeed make a huge
difference in the future. The organization will never stop spinning unless there
is a conscious effort to make it happen. Senior management must make a
commitment, and stick to it, to allocate at least some people to this effort. This
is easy in the beginning, but as time goes on there is a big temptation to divert
the data warehouse team members to help on some immediate situation.
Resist! Unless this investment is made, the organization will never get out of
the mode of grabbing data to help address an immediate need. Taking the time
to gather complete business requirements and looking at priorities helps the
organization to see the potential value that can be realized, even from loading
the first data source. While getting started with more structure was difficult,
the business impact of building the data warehouse helps everyone to focus
on getting the data warehouse built. Not everyone's needs are addressed up
front, but those that will be met will help the entire organization to be more
successful.
Summary
Having a good understanding of the business in general and then a deeper
understanding of business challenges and themes provides the necessary
background to design a data warehouse that will meet the business's needs
now and into the future. Well-documented requirements are not only useful
for the initial project, but also tend to remain accurate for years. These capture
the essence of the business and thus the basics remain constant.
Having this good foundation provides the project team with the correct
perspective as they begin to develop a data model that will help the business to
address whatever challenges have been identified. The next chapter discusses
how to create the data model — in a way that makes sense to the business
community and captures the details needed to construct the database.
