FREE DM Review Site Registration!
Sign-up today and access DM Review on the Web!

Your FREE registration entitles you to:
FREE email newsletters

FREE access to all DM Review content

FREE access to web seminars, resource portals, our white paper library and more!

   

Publisher reserves the right to serve qualified requesters only.

More Ask the Experts

Can anyone share some experience as to how to test a data warehouse?

Larissa Moss, Chuck Kelley
Can anyone share some experience as to how to test a data warehouse? What kind of test cases needs to be written?

How do you measure/calculate information quality quotient for a particular data set?

Danette McGilvray
The good news is that information quality can be measured - via various data quality dimensions. A data quality dimension is a way to measure and manage data and information quality. I reference 12 data quality dimensions that I believe are the most practical and useful for the business to measure and manage.

Can data warehouses be designed to cover all possible queries on dimensions that we throw at it without providing a list of reports to an IT department?

Sid Adelman, Joe Oates, Chuck Kelley
First of all, some reports can be predicted. The reports users get today that will be satisfied by the data warehouse will still need to be run, perhaps somewhat differently and delivered differently, but they will still be needed and can be predicted.

Apart from bloated dimension, what are the negatives of using all known attributes in your SCD?

Chuck Kelley
Question: Apart from bloated dimension, what are the negatives of using all known attributes in your slowly changing dimensions (SCD)?

When is it better to have normalized data to create data marts and when is it better to have dimensional data?

Chuck Kelley, Joe Oates, Larissa Moss
Hoping not be bombarded by emails, I still don’t get the difference between Kimball’s and Inmon’s approach.

Which CDC method is the best to achieve staging database with changed data?

Chuck Kelley
Which method is the best to achieve my goal (staging database with changed data) taking into consideration the issues of performance, latency, impact on source database etc.?

What is the difference between a recommendation engine and predictive analytics?

Chuck Kelley
Questions: I am interested to learn more about the difference between the “recommendation engine” and the predictive analytics.

Should the DW team be involved in a data governance program and how do BI and the DW play a role?

Joe Oates
The DW team should definitely be involved with the data governance program.

Do you think a company is inefficient if they have more than 20 KPIs?

Joe Oates
A well-designed set of KPIs is hierarchical. By this I mean that the top level KPIs are derived from lower level KPIs.

With respect to ETL integration from one system to the other, what steps needs to be considered when planning an aquisition or merger?

Joe Oates
I am assuming that you are referring to integrating new systems acquired with the merger or acquisition in a data warehouse, though the following tips apply to other situations.

Should I be concerned about my boyfriend is spending 60 to 70 hours per week on a data warehouse project?

Chuck Kelley
First, let me say that I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker or counselor of any kind when it comes to relationships. Just ask my wife! However, 60 to 70 hours per week a few times during major deployment times is not unreasonable.

How do I convince my reluctant boss to begin work on a data warehouse?

Chuck Kelley
It sounds, to me, that your boss is not ready for or does not comprehend what a DW can do for the organization.

When we deliver a data warehouse solution, the users tell us it doesn’t match what they need. What do we need to do?

Chuck Kelley, Larissa Moss
How long did it take before you delivered the data? My guess is that it was longer than three months. Within three months, the requirements generally change and since you did not ask during the development if the requirements changed, you were not notified.

Are there best practices or tools for creating a data dictionary?

Sid Adelman, Tom Haughey
Take a look at "Business Metadata," by William Inmon, Bonnie O’Neil and Lowell Fryman. Also look at Dave Marco’s books and columns.

Where is the best place for a BI application to reside?

Sid Adelman, Tom Haughey
There are different kinds of BI applications. Some BI applications are data marts. A data mart is defined as an environment containing a specialized collection of related data, customized for a specific community of knowledge workers, analysts or planners, to support their reporting and analysis needs.



Industry Vendors