Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
It is extremely important to have one or more individuals from the business
be full-time members of the project team. These representatives serve as the
daily liaison between the project team and the rest of the business community.
They also actively assist the project to understand and document require-
ments. This includes overall business requirements as well as the definition of
individual data elements and the business rules for processing and handling
the data. While this business analyst does not need to know all the answers,
he or she does have to know who else to turn to.
A core set of IT personnel will form the project team. This is usually
comprised of a project manager, a systems analyst, a data modeler or architect
and developers. There are often two different types of developers: those
who write the ETL system and those who build the business intelligence
(BI) application. Other technical people are needed periodically to support
network, security, and database needs.
Chapter 4 describes the specific roles and responsibilities for both business
and IT personnel involved in a data warehouse.
Question: Do we know where we are going? How
will we know when we get there?
It may seem as though there is a lot of activity but the actual vision and final
result are not clear. This can be a result of a number of factors. Sometimes
there is no formal vision or strategy in place. Other times, there is a vision but
it is has not been clearly communicated. In both scenarios, a lot of effort can
be spent without any real, sustainable progress. It can be easy to fall into this
pattern. For example, when an immediate need crops up to address one part
of the business, we scramble to get a quick set of reports created. Then another
area has a different urgent need, so a dashboard is created to support that
group. Without a clear and communicated vision, these activities can consume
your organization. The challenge is to balance these short-term needs while
working toward long-term goals.
Answer
First, it is important to figure out where you are in the process. Techniques
for how to do this can be found in Chapter 3. Based upon these findings,
there may be a need to better understand business requirements (Chapter 6),
stabilize the technical environment (Chapter 9), or perhaps develop a more
strategic view of the data (Chapters 8 and 9).
Successful data warehouse environments are built over time with a clear
direction and goal in mind. This includes the business objectives and both
