Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Tracking Data Warehouse Use
The true measurement of a successful data warehouse is the business value.
This may have been articulated when the overall project was reviewed, as
discussed earlier in this chapter. Taking it further, Chapter 13 provides more
suggestions for finding and tracking business value on an ongoing basis. At
this point, it is also helpful to simply understand general data warehouse
usage. This is needed to help you do the following:
Monitor performance and plan for increases in capacity.
Understand which business groups are using the DW.
Identify which business groups are not using the DW.
Identify groups or individuals who would benefit from additional edu-
cation.
There are some simple ways to determine to what extent the data warehouse
is being used:
Track the number of different people who signed on to the BI appli-
cation.
Track the number of queries run against the data warehouse.
Determine the average number of queries by type of user. Depending
upon the how security is implemented, this may also be determined by
individual users too.
Count the number of new reports published for general use.
Count the total number of reports/templates created and stored by users
for their own use.
Track the number of problems reported, and how many were resolved.
Track how often the data is loaded and ready for use on time.
These statistics can be loaded into a dimensional structure that can be used
to analyze fluctuations in use over time. While these measures can help you
gain an overall impression of data usage, they do not provide any insight into
what impact the data warehouse has had on the business. They can help the
data warehouse team target groups and actions that increase the number of
people using the data warehouse.
Getting the Rest of the Business Community on Board
Now that the data warehouse project is complete, the business users' managers
need to help their staff members begin to use the data warehouse. These
business managers can get support from the data warehouse manager and
