Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Standard
Organizational
Reporting Structure
Project A
Project B
Project C
Project D
Project E
Project F
Figure 13-2
Virtual enterprise DW team structure
Sometimes the concept of forming an enterprise team can take a wrong
turn. This can result in an
ivory tower team
. This happens when the enterprise
team does not have any actual project involvement. Their only work is
at a conceptual level for data warehousing across the organization. This is not
a recommended approach. This type of team tends to set up methods and
policies to which all projects should adhere, but they lose touch with what
is realistic. They become more of a burden and added expense, rather than
helping data warehouse initiatives become more successful.
Regardless of how the team is organized, there are common skills and
functions that this team can perform. The types of people who often are part
of the enterprise data warehouse team include the following:
Technical specialists who support the tools
Project managers
Data modelers or data architects
Lead ETL developers
Lead BI developers
Business analysts
Not all members of every data warehouse project should belong to the
enterprise data warehouse team, and each project should be staffed with
a variety of people. The enterprise DW team should be the best and most
experienced data warehouse personnel in the organization. They can lead,
mentor, and teach the rest of the individual project team members. This
also provides the opportunity for new people to begin to develop these
