Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
warehouse can do. Representatives from the business must work with lead
data warehouse and BI team members to figure this out. Each individual
division of an organization will have its own objectives and goals. There will
also be objectives that span all of the divisions. What is the strategic direction of
the company? What are the biggest challenges facing the entire organization?
As new business strategies and objectives are developed, take a look at
how the data warehouse can continue to support these goals. This is similar
to the type of work that is done to justify a data warehouse project in the
first place. This may have happened years ago. It is worthwhile to go back
to find the original rationale. Often, many of the same overarching issues are
still facing the organization. New challenges may have cropped up due to
market pressures, regulatory changes, or advancements in technology needed
to run the business, such as manufacturing technology.
The data warehouse manager and steering committee need to understand
the organization's strategic objectives so that they can prioritize all data
warehouse work to support those objectives. This makes it easier to decide
the order in which the work will be done. It also makes explaining the
data warehouse priorities much easier. The more closely aligned the data
warehouse is to the overall corporate strategies, the better the likelihood of
retaining funding for maintenance and expansion.
Getting It Right This Time
As you've already seen, while many data warehouse projects try to use best
practices, the project may still fall short. Subsequent projects should tap into
the experiences of any previous data warehouse projects. Project teams often
have insight into what could have been done differently. It is hoped that
these ideas were captured during the post-implementation project review.
If not, seek out the team members to get their perspective on the previous
project. If there is a lack of confidence in the current staff, then external help is
needed. This may entail hiring experienced data warehouse staff or bringing in
consultants to design and build the data warehouse. In addition to correcting
known problems, the new project should also do the following:
Communicate regularly to a wide variety of audiences across IT and the
business community.
Openly acknowledge problems of the past.
Assure everyone that steps are being taken to address these problems.
Ensure that communication works both ways. Share what is happening
and then
listen
.
Implement sound data governance to define the data. Then, develop and
publish useful documentation, including what each data element means
