Sid Adelman
Sid Adelman is a principal in Sid Adelman & Associates, an organization specializing in planning and implementing data warehouses, in data warehouse and BI assessments, and in establishing effective data architectures and strategies. He is a regular speaker at DW conferences. Adelman chairs the "Ask the Experts" column on www.dmreview.com. He is a frequent contributor to journals that focus on data warehousing. He co-authored Data Warehouse Project Management and is the principal author on Impossible Data Warehouse Situations with Solutions from the Experts and Data Strategy. He can be reached at (818) 783-9634 or visit his Web site at www.sidadelman.com.
Recent Stories From this Author
Without a Data Governance Strategy
February 21, 2008 Without a DGS, your organization is clearly in trouble. You may have addressed one or two of the components of a DGS, but...
Strategy Components
January 3, 2008 In this column, I’ll attempt to lay out the primary components of a data governance strategy and give you a starter kit...
How important is data reconciliation for an ETL application?
October 1, 2007
What are the different metrics to consider when we want to charge a project for the sever resources usage?
October 1, 2007
How can one show intermediate deliverables/results to the business uses/sponsors?
October 1, 2007
Please give some suggestions to prepare an estimation effort for our ETL process.
October 1, 2007
Which would be a better choice of classes for career growth in data warehousing - ETL architecture or dimensional modeling?
August 1, 2007
How do you decide on the roles and responsibilities of operational or analytical reporting teams?
August 1, 2007
Do you know where/how I can estimate high-level prices for each of the BI tool vendors?
August 1, 2007
Is the development methodology for BI different than operational development methodology?
July 2, 2007
How much time is needed to clean the master data and get it on track?
July 2, 2007
Are there any surveys that provide insight to what companies are spending to implement data warehousing solutions?
June 1, 2007
What impact does data privacy legislation have on using and building customer/employee data warehouses?
June 1, 2007
Do you have a roadmap, preferably pictorial, to develop a data strategy or an online document that I can reference?
June 1, 2007
How to Blame the Vendor for the Project You Screwed Up
June 1, 2007
Do you have any advice for providing some structure for a new master data management project?
May 1, 2007
What is the relationship between performance measurement and strategy?
May 1, 2007
Reference Checking, Part 2
May 1, 2007
Do you have suggestions for a naming convention for our new EDW?
April 2, 2007
What is the average cost of developing and maintaining a data warehouse for a large company?
April 2, 2007
Are there ways to improve the performance of data access through the reporting tool as well at the ETL process?
April 2, 2007
Reference Checking, Part 1
April 1, 2007
Why hasn't the data warehouse and BI been more active in areas that go beyond just making money?
March 1, 2007
What are the metrics a company should track?
February 1, 2007
How do other companies vet report requests from internal customers when rolling out the DW?
February 1, 2007
Capturing Intellectual Capital in Metadata
February 1, 2007 It is important to preserve the intellectual property of your organization as employees retire, resign or relocate. Creating a...
How do you address concerns on security related to outsourcing?
February 1, 2007
What factors should be considered and what are the risks of bringing an outsourced data warehouse back in house?
February 1, 2007
Would you suggest sources to implement a data strategy for enterprise applications?
February 1, 2007
Chicken or the Egg - Which Came First?
January 2, 2007
What metrics should use to measure performace of an outsurced data warehouse?
January 2, 2007
Can you run a marketing campaign without a data warehouse or data mart?
December 7, 2006
What questions I should be asking each BI user to determine his/her user profile?
December 7, 2006
Do you think a company is inefficient if they have more than 20 KPIs?
December 7, 2006
Can you provide some questions to ask when creating the requirements for a new warehouse?
December 7, 2006
Is there a defined practical methodology that is helpful in implementing a data warehouse?
December 6, 2006
What are the major components of a data management strategy?
December 6, 2006
Do you have examples of the profitability that can come from a data warehouse application?
November 9, 2006
Would you recommend deleting inconsistent data in our sources?
November 9, 2006
When designing a sales/marketing data mart, are there some standard performance metrics questions I can ask company executives?
November 9, 2006
How confident can I be that my database management system tool and extract, transform and load tool will work together?
November 9, 2006
How can I convince management to allocate resources for data quality?
November 9, 2006
BI Bling
November 1, 2006
Do you see service-oriented architecture reducing the need for the data warehouse?
October 2, 2006
What is the best data warehouse estimation technique?
October 2, 2006
What is the best way to test a data warehouse?
October 2, 2006
Ask the Experts
September 8, 2006 Assuming that there's a data governance organization already in place, the question arises: how can one measure the quality of...
What certification will help me develop a profession in data mining?
September 5, 2006
Are master data management solutions mature enough to talk about talk about client counterparty and securities master?
September 5, 2006
What is the future of data marts, data warehouses, enterprise data warehouses, operational data stores and archives?
September 5, 2006
Dealing with Vendors
September 1, 2006
Ask the Experts
August 25, 2006 A sample of questions that our panel of experts receives and responds to.
Are there any good resources to assist in writing a business case for a customer data integration project or data warehousing project?
August 1, 2006
How do I define the performance benchmarks for enterprise-wide data warehousing platforms?
August 1, 2006
How can one measure the quality of data - both on master data and transactional data?
August 1, 2006
Ask the Experts
July 28, 2006 How can we meet all end-user requests for the enterprise data warehouse?
How can we meet all end-user requests for the enterprise data warehouse?
July 10, 2006
What is a potential approach to provide clients performance reports customized to their needs?
July 10, 2006
Mastering the Exhibit Hall
July 1, 2006
Are Web-based analytics solutions actually useful for many organizations?
June 13, 2006
Why can't you experts agree on terminology?
June 13, 2006
Can you help me with some resources to prepare a standard approach for requirements definition and analysis for BI projects?
June 13, 2006
Ask the Experts
May 19, 2006 Should knowledge made available through the use of data warehouses be disseminated to all employees in the organization?
Ask the Experts
May 12, 2006 Today's question: What would you recommend for a method to set up a central business intelligence competence center in an...
What should we provide as support for BI development and customized reports in the insurance industry?
May 11, 2006
Please provide a role-description for a generic power user and his business counterpart.
May 11, 2006
Ask the Experts
May 5, 2006
Should the Data Warehouse be Outsourced?
May 1, 2006
Ask the Experts
April 28, 2006 Ask the Experts is a regular feature on DMReview.com. This is an example of the types of questions a panel of experts answers.
What kinds of data warehouse processes would be good for outsourcing?
April 10, 2006
Ask the Experts
April 7, 2006 This is a sample of the questions asked of and answered by our illustrious panel of experts.
Direction from the Chairman of the Board
March 1, 2006
What method would you recommend to set up a central business intelligence competence center?
February 7, 2006
What activities need to be done in capacity planning for a data warehouse consolidation project?
February 7, 2006
Please help explain the 1) urgency of need and 2) elimination of risk for building a data warehouse.
January 3, 2006
What roadmap should I use for an insurance system data warehouse?
January 3, 2006
What parameters should be considered to compare the top five ETL tools?
December 12, 2005
What standard/guidelines should be implemented in the transactional systems to make the data business intelligence ready?
December 12, 2005
Can you provide any cases on data warehouse and dashboard solutions?
December 12, 2005
How should I research user experiences before implementing a DW?
December 9, 2005
Please advize on how to implement a federated database system.
November 4, 2005
What activities and skill sets distinguish and differentiate a data warehouse DBA from a traditional Oracle production DBA?
October 7, 2005
What are some of the factors that influence an organization's satisfaction with its data warehouse?
October 7, 2005
What should be tested in the source (DB2) to ODS (Oracle) to data warehouse (Oracle) cycle and where should the testing occur?
October 7, 2005
Could you please give me some information about BI methodologies,?
October 7, 2005
Is there a way to calculate best, medium, and worst case time frames for developing an ODS?
October 7, 2005
Can anyone recommend DW training?
September 7, 2005
Could you please let me know the advantages of ETL tools versus traditional programming?
September 7, 2005
What are the primary technical data warehousing implementation challenges?
September 7, 2005
Is there a standard questionnaire I can send to my client to get a good insight into his data warehouse and the processes he uses to implement the warehouse?
September 7, 2005
Capitalizing the Data Warehouse
July 1, 2005 Because the data warehouse provides value in future periods, it represents an intangible asset that should be capitalized on a...
What are the ongoing maintenance issues of BI and data mining from both an IT and business management perspective?
June 8, 2005
How do I map the underlying management principles or any framework or theories to the various BI tools?
June 8, 2005
What are some of the concerns we should be aware of in integrated planning?
May 2, 2005
How should roles be determined in the development of an information system?
May 2, 2005
Which certification for data warehousing is most widely accepted and is certification worth the time, effort and expense?
March 1, 2005 I would like to know which certification for data warehousing is most widely accepted and how to go about it. Is certification...
How does a project manager keep up to date with technical expertise?
March 1, 2005 A disadvantage of the pure project organization has to do with the tendency of project professionals to fall behind in areas...
Are there any standard practices to maintain the security within the data warehouse?
March 1, 2005 Are there any standard practices to maintain the security within the data warehouse? I have designed role-based and...
Is there a standard/common format used when preparing an RFP in the DW/BI space?
March 1, 2005 Is there a standard/common format used when preparing an RFP in the DW/BI space? Are there common questions to ask or metrics...
What is the difference between analytics and data mining?
February 4, 2005 What is the difference between analytics and data mining? A search on "Ask the Experts" helped me to get the difference...
Is it legitimate to capitalize our data warehouse instead of expensing it?
February 4, 2005 I've heard some discussion about capitalizing our data warehouse rather than expensing it. This means the data warehouse would...
What recommendations do you have for a training program fro 500-700 end users?
February 4, 2005 Our organization expects to train between 500 and 700 end users this year. What recommendations do you have for our training...
Since hardware is relatively inexpensive, does my company have to worry about performance?
February 4, 2005 Since hardware is relatively inexpensive, does my company have to worry about performance? Can't we just throw more hardware...
What do you think is the optimal organization structure for business intelligence and data warehousing for an organization?
December 13, 2004 What do you think is the optimal organization
structure for business intelligence and data warehousing for an organization?
Could you please provide me with some resources/direction for data profiling tools that will give me a better understanding of the quality of my data?
December 13, 2004 Could you please provide me with some resources/direction for data profiling tools that will give me a better understanding of...
Can agile development methodologies apply to BI projects and if so what are the main pitfalls to watch out for in using such techniques?
December 13, 2004 Can agile development methodologies apply to BI projects and if so what are the main pitfalls to watch out for in using such...
We are migrating from one data warehouse to a new one.
December 13, 2004 We are migrating from one data warehouse to a new one. Which questions need to be asked to perform a technical analysis
of...
What are the major risks of implementing an RDBMS in an enterprise?
December 13, 2004 What are the major risks of implementing an RDBMS in an enterprise? Are these risks present across all vendors or are
the...
We are extracting data from a legacy system that has summary data in it that we will need in the DW, should we re-derive these counts as functions of ETL to ensure accuracy?
November 1, 2004 We are extracting data from a legacy system that has summary data in it that we will need in the DW, assuming that the legacy...
What are the most important characteristics to compare when benchmarking data quality software?
November 1, 2004 I'm trying to make a benchmarking about data quality
software. What are the most important characteristics to compare?
Would you interview top executives separately or as a group for the collection of business requirements via interviews?
October 14, 2004 Would you interview top executives (CEO, COO, CFO), vice presidents and directors of functional areas separately or as a group...
When planning for an enterprise data warehouse what types of investment should be planned for in the way of technology infrastructure?
October 14, 2004 When planning for an enterprise data warehouse, what types of investment should be planned for in the way of technology...
What aspects do I need to consider for an ETL tool for a strategic data warehousing development project in banking domain?
October 14, 2004 What aspects do I need to consider for an ETL tool for a strategic data warehousing development project in banking domain? The...
We are in the planning stages of implementing a managed data warehouse.
September 8, 2004 We are in the planning stages of implementing a managed data warehouse. The current solution is an Oracle database which feeds...
How can my organization use BI products to meet emerging compliance management and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements?
September 8, 2004 How can my organization use BI products to meet emerging compliance management and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements?
We have a data consolidation system which takes transactions from multiple systems and consolidate and enriches it with contextual information and publishes the same to the downstream consumer systems.
September 8, 2004 We have a data consolidation system which takes transactions from multiple systems and consolidate and enriches it with...
I recently joined the company as a DW data modeler in the production support group.
August 13, 2004 I recently joined the company as a DW data modeler in the production support
group. The DW is large and was partially...
What are the risks involved when doing data integration?
August 13, 2004 What are the risks involved when doing data integration?
Across the industry, a common metric is in cost per GB stored.
August 13, 2004 Across the industry, a common metric is in cost per GB stored. Is there a
standard for totaling the costs (does it including...
The new trend has been demanding real-time data from the data warehouse.
July 8, 2004 The new trend has been demanding real-time data
from the data warehouse: 1) to generate operational report at high...
I am looking for information on evaluating the success or failure of a data warehouse after implementation from a business point of view.
July 8, 2004 I am looking for information on evaluating the success or failure of a data warehouse after implementation from a business...
Is there a report that itemizes the costs of reporting solutions for each vendor?
July 8, 2004 Is there a report that itemizes the costs of reporting solutions for each vendor? How do the vendors arrive at their
cost...
It has been suggested that we can skip user acceptance testing of the Dimension tables in order to speed up implementation.
July 8, 2004 It has been suggested that we can skip user acceptance testing of the Dimension tables in order to speed up implementation....
Do you have a standard template for gathering business requirements for enterprise data requirements project?
July 8, 2004 Do you have a standard template for gathering business requirements for enterprise data requirements project?
I am a final year student of the University of London.
May 7, 2004 I am a final year student of the University of London. The subject area for my final year dissertation is CRM in the...
What factors should an organization consider when determining how often to "refresh" (update) its data warehouse?
May 7, 2004 What factors should an organization consider when determining how often to "refresh" (update) its data warehouse? Is it...
I will be extracting data from SAPR/3 and flat files and loading into my SAP-BW system.
April 27, 2004 I will be extracting data from SAPR/3 and flat
files and loading into my SAP-BW system. How do I go about evaluating ETL...
I have come across two approaches/practices in building data warehouses.
April 27, 2004 I have come across two approaches/practices in
building data warehouses. One is constructing a data warehouse at the...
Where can I find a case study on the data warehousing life cycle?
April 27, 2004 Where can I find a case study on the data
warehousing life cycle? I’ll be building a cube in a star schema
within the...
I am preparing a document for effort estimation for data warehousing projects.
April 27, 2004 I am preparing a document for effort estimation
for data warehousing projects. Currently we are using WBS (work breakdown...
How do I cut my warehouse costs? I need general tips to reduce my warehouse costs.
June 25, 2002 How do I cut my warehouse costs? I need general tips to reduce
my warehouse costs.
We have a successful data warehouse (which is to say that business users are asking for more at an accelerating rate) and I am having a real
June 25, 2002 We have a successful data warehouseand I am having a real
problem getting the business users and other IT groups to...
We are using Ascential DataStage version 4.2 and I am having difficulty justifying the cost of the tool for Oracle source to Oracle warehouse loading of information.
June 25, 2002 We are using Ascential DataStage version 4.2 and I am having
difficulty justifying the cost of the tool for Oracle source to...
Could you please give me an idea of the typical range on a per record basis for a deduplication(data cleansing) project?
May 3, 2002 Could you please give me an idea of the typical range on a per
record basis for a deduplication(data cleansing) project?
What products perform well on an OS/400 platform?
May 3, 2002 I am working on an OS/400 Platform, setting up a data warehouse
structure for my company. A fact table of 5,000,000 records...
My company is now investigating whether you could use one database model and/or one database for both OLTP and OLAP worlds.
May 3, 2002 My company is now investigating whether you could use one
database model and/or one database for both OLTP and OLAP...
Do you have any suggestions for automated end-to- end testing for a data warehouse implementation?
May 3, 2002 Do you have any suggestions for automated end-to- end testing
for a data warehouse implementation? If so, what level of...
Before I begin, I must stress that I am an absolute beginner to data warehousing.
May 2, 2002 Before I begin, I must stress that I am an absolute beginner to
data warehousing. I am trying to find good references to...
How could developers improve the use of DSS and EIS with DW technology?
April 17, 2002 How could the developers improve the use of DSS and EIS based on DW technology?
My client presently uses ETI Extract and custom-built code for many data migration projects but purchased Informatica and is planning to migrate to Informatica.
April 17, 2002 My client presently uses ETI Extract and custom-built code for many data migration projects but purchased Informatica and is...
Can you provide me with the top data warehouse solution providers?
April 17, 2002 Can you provide me with the top data warehouse solution providers?
Do you know some CRM initiatives specially designed for educational organization (college, schools, etc)?
April 17, 2002 Do you know some CRM initiatives specially designed for
educational organization (college, schools, etc.)? Something like a...
Our client already has many data marts without a data warehouse.
March 13, 2002 Our client already has many data marts without a data warehouse. I have to build the enterprise data warehouse, but I don't...
How important it is to have a separate ETL tool when our target RDBMS supplies ETL capabilities, e.g., PL/SQL in Oracle and DTS in MS SQLServer?
March 13, 2002 How important it is to have a separate ETL tool when our target RDBMS supplies ETL capabilities, e.g., PL/SQL in Oracle and...
We are building a data warehouse which will start at 100GB and will reach the terabyte range or more.
March 13, 2002 We are building a data warehouse which will start at 100GB and will reach the terabyte range or more. Can Oracle scale to meet...
I am a student in computer science pursuing a Ph.D. on a topic related to data mining.
March 13, 2002 I am a student in computer science pursuing a Ph.D. on a topic related to data mining. Can anyone guide me in writing my...
I am studying DSS as part of my coursework at secondary school
March 13, 2002 I am studying DSS as part of my coursework at secondary school and found your Web site very useful. However, I am currently...
Is there any recommendation as to the best way to set up a DW team structure?
March 13, 2002 Is there any recommendation as to the best way to set up a DW team structure? Is it better to have specialists who focus on...
We are building an enterprise data warehouse.
February 7, 2002 We are building an enterprise data warehouse. Are there best practice guidelines on which (if not all) categories of data...
I am looking for a reporting tool with a simple report development interface.
February 7, 2002 I am looking for a reporting tool with a simple report development interface. The usual suspects (BO, Brio, Cognos) are too...
I would like to know how best to test the warehouse in ETL if we are not using any tools for ETL (everything has been written in programs)?
February 7, 2002 I would like to know how best to test the warehouse in ETL if we are not using any tools for ETL (everything has been written...
Which hardware and operating system platform(s) would you recommend for placing the actual data warehouse data on (one terabyte initially and then growing)?
February 7, 2002 Which hardware and operating system platform(s) would you
recommend for placing the actual data warehouse data on (one...
We currently have a normalized group-wide data warehouse based on a UNIX/Oracle platform.
February 7, 2002 We have looked at Oracle Warehouse Builder and although for simple ETL it seems it will handle the job, for more complex...
I am looking into data warehousing conferences for training purposes.
January 25, 2002 I am looking into data warehousing conferences for training
purposes. I have found two, one sponsored by The Data...
We are at a crossroad.
January 23, 2002 We are at a crossroad. We need a bigger server to get the ETL load times down, but as a company I am not 100 percent convinced...
What is the difference between data warehousing and business intelligence?
January 22, 2002 What is the difference between data warehousing and business
intelligence?
How do I go about data warehousing for a financial organization? Any articles/sites you could suggest on this topic?
December 14, 2001 How do I go about data warehousing for a financial
organization? Any articles/sites you could suggest on this topic?
In your opinion, what are the next round of challenges in the data warehousing field, and what products are well poised to solve them?
December 13, 2001 In your opinion, what are the next round of challenges in the data warehousing field, and what products are well poised to...
I work for the conference production company and am currently conducting research for our new project on the topic of data mining/data warehousing.
December 13, 2001 I work for the conference production company and am
currently conducting research for our new project on the topic
of...
Where can I find the equivalence of a consumer report comparing all the business intelligence products?
December 13, 2001 Where can I find the equivalence of a consumer report
comparing all the business intelligence products? Also, what are...
Why has the concept of data warehousing become popular?
December 13, 2001 Why has the concept of data warehousing become popular?
I've just finished my MBA (systems) and I am looking forward to a career in data warehousing.
November 20, 2001 I've just finished my MBA (systems) and I am looking forward to a career in data warehousing. Kindly advise me on the specific...
Could you give me some help in finding DWs in the steel industry?
November 20, 2001 Could you give me some help in finding DWs in the steel
industry? Or an example of using DW in quality control?
Apart from stored procedures what is the best language for writing data cleansing and transformation code for any DW?
November 19, 2001 Apart from stored procedures what is the best language
for writing data cleansing and transformation code for any DW?
Our consultant is proposing the use of both the star and snowflake schemas in our datamart architecture.
November 19, 2001 Our consultant is proposing the use of both star and snowflake
schemas in our datamart. Is this a typical practice in the...
Data Strategy Introduction
November 16, 2001 In most organizations, the value of data is not well understood
and data is addressed on a piecemeal basis. The...
I have been asked to build a cost case for the initial implementation of a data warehouse.
July 23, 2001 I have been asked to build a cost case for the initial
implementation of a data warehouse. Are there any generally...
What would be the most effective and dynamic organization for a complete data warehouse project with OLAP and mining data marts, if most of the parts are ready to use?
July 23, 2001 What would be the most effective and dynamic organization for a
complete data warehouse project with OLAP and mining data...
We are building a data warehouse on AS/400.
July 23, 2001 We are building a data warehouse on AS/400. We plan to build this on a separate logical partition (LPAR2) outside of the...
My firm has been asked to perform the feasibility study for a meta data.
June 4, 2001 What questions should I ask the organization's technical
stakeholders? Also, which toolsets would facilitate the...
What factors should be considered at different stages of a data warehouse implementation to arrive at a size estimate for a project?
June 4, 2001 What factors should be considered at different stages of a data
warehouse implementation to arrive at a size estimate for a...
Does it make a difference in query performance if I write tableA.colx = tableB.colY or the other way round?
June 4, 2001 Does it make a difference in query performance if I write
tableA.colx = tableB.colY or the other way round? Is this...
What are the current issues and concerns with gathering requirements for a data warehouse?
June 4, 2001 What are the current issues and concerns with gathering
requirements for a data warehouse? Do you have any good...
I have several questions regarding testing.
April 30, 2001 I have several questions regarding testing. What key issues
should I consider when testing a specific warehouse solution?...
Are you aware of any risk management models that have been developed for data warehousing operations?
April 30, 2001 Are you aware of any risk management models that have been
developed for data warehousing operations?
I have been asked to compare two data warehouse products from Brio and Cognos.
April 2, 2001 I have been asked to compare two data warehouse products from
Brio and Cognos. What are some of the things that I should...
What is Teradata? I am seeing many requirements for this. How do I get the software and downloads of material for Teradata?
April 2, 2001 What is Teradata? I am seeing many requirements for this. How
do I get the software and downloads of material for Teradata?
When we are cleaning data from a relational source, and some values
March 20, 2001 When we are cleaning data from a relational source, and some
values cannot be cleaned. Should it be put in an...
During the development of a data warehouse, how far can you progress with the development effort without the identification of an end-user tool?
March 20, 2001 During the development of a data warehouse, how far can you
progress with the development effort without the identification...
In your opinion, what is the most popular database platform used for data warehouses in the telecommunications industry worldwide?
March 6, 2001 In your opinion, what is the most popular database platform used
for data warehouses in the telecommunications industry...
I wonder if someone could help me find a simple tool, readily available, that visualizes the full business intelligence cycle, and enhances control.
March 6, 2001 I wonder if someone could help me find a simple tool, readily
available, that visualizes the full business intelligence...
I'm looking for a real-world example where a business intelligence system has added value to a company – that without the system the company would have been at a loss.
March 6, 2001 I'm looking for a real-world example where a business
intelligence system has added value to a company – that without...
In planning a data warehouse, what are the possible disadvantages or advantages of choosing either DB2 or Oracle as the database structure?
March 6, 2001 In planning a data warehouse, what are the possible
disadvantages or advantages of choosing either DB2 or Oracle as
the...
What are the growth prospects in the field of data warehousing if one takes it up as a career?
January 12, 2001 What are the growth prospects in the field of data
warehousing if one takes it up as a career?
I am looking for benchmark data indicating the average cost per gigabyte for implementing a data warehouse.
January 12, 2001 I am looking for benchmark data indicating the average cost
per gigabyte for implementing a data warehouse.
What can’t my operational reports (from my ERP system) offer me what a business intelligence system can?
January 12, 2001 What can’t my operational reports (from my ERP system)
offer me what a business intelligence system can?
How do you assess the robustness of a data warehouse system?
January 12, 2001 How do you assess the robustness of a data warehouse system?
We are currently seeking to establish a reporting framework for our organization.
January 12, 2001 What is the best approach to demonstrate the benefits of a consolidated reporting framework?
I have to build a prototype pilot project for a media client.
January 12, 2001 I have to build a prototype pilot project for a media client. Should I carry out the same phases of activity, which should be...
We are using Oracle for data warehousing and Oracle Express as an OLAP tool.
January 12, 2001 Which OLAP tools are available and why does ORACLE stand better in context of performance, high availability, fault tolerance...
What are centralized databases? Pros and cons? Differences between centralized and distributed databases?
December 13, 2000 What are centralized databases? What are the differences between centralized and distributed databases?
Which is a better solution in terms of flexibility, performance and scalability for data warehouse?
December 13, 2000 Which is a better solution in terms of flexibility, performance and scalability for data warehouse in a telecom environment...
Our data warehouse is growing and changing. We are adopting a formal documentation plan by IBM called Application Development Effectiveness.
December 4, 2000 What do other data warehouses use for documentation and project control? What do they use for things that are modeled in...
Because of competition, we’re moving more into the retail industry, and need to alter our data warehouse to suit.
December 4, 2000 Our new customer-focused operational systems will involve CRM and outsource systems. As a result of this infrastructure, we’re...
How does one create a methodology of development of DW in a country where this concept and technology has never been implemented. What steps do we need to take?
October 30, 2000 How does one create a methodology to develop a data warehouse in a country where theconcept and technology have never been...
I am looking for typical data warehouse project phases and the percentage of duration for each phase. Are there any resources or Web sites that collect this type of data?
October 30, 2000 I am looking for typical data warehouse project phases and the percentage of duration for each phase. Are there any resources...
I am very keen to move into the database sector. What are the typical day-to-day tasks of a DBA?
September 1, 2000 I am very keen to move into the database sector. What are the typical day-to-day tasks of a DBA?
I work for a non- profit organization that is just starting to write an RFP for their membership database and redesign of their Web site.
September 1, 2000 My organization is starting to write an RFP for their membership database and redesign their Web site. I have been assigned to...
I've recently inherited a data warehouse that uses disk mirroring, and we're faced with the need to add about a terabyte (mirrored) to make it through the end of 2000.
September 1, 2000 Is it a common practice for data warehouses to use disk mirroring?
I am looking for AS/400 to AS/400 data warehouse solution.
September 1, 2000 Most companies seem to be going from the AS/400 to NT. Is this simply a cost issue?
I am interested in any business intelligence trend analysis that has been completed for the legal market.
August 1, 2000 Where can I find business intelligence trend analysis that has been completed for the legal market?
I'm interested in finding information on training employees who use data mining applications (that are not vendor-specific).
August 1, 2000 How can we train employees about how to pull, analyze and use information from data mining applications?
When should we use an ETL tool and when should we develop one by ourselves?
August 1, 2000 When should we use an ETL tool, and when should we develop one by ourselves?
What do you feel is the best way to manage a data warehouse?
August 1, 2000 What do you feel is the best way to manage a data warehouse?
I am working on a data warehouse design and the client needs real-time updates in the DW/DM from a one-source system.
August 1, 2000 Any ideas on how to accomplish a real-time update in the DSS environment?
What do you think are the most important criteria when selecting a data storage vendor?
July 1, 2000 What do you think are the most important criteria when selecting a data storage vendor?
Where can we find information about the types of tests to apply in the databases of the data warehouse?
June 1, 2000 Where can we find information about the types of tests to apply in the databases of the data warehouse?
I'm in charge of defining the administration tasks of a data warehouse application, and I was asked to define a method to determine the growth of the data warehouse (capacity planning).
June 1, 2000 I was asked to define a method to determine the growth of our data warehouse. How can I achieve this in the most accurate way?
I have been given the responsibility to organize our enterprise meta data and come up with procedures and standards.
June 1, 2000 Where can I get some information on how to build and maintain an enterprise meta data repository?
I am an IS VP for a Canadian retailer, and I was asked by our CFO to state why the business needs a data warehouse.
April 1, 2000 I was asked by our CFO to state why our business needs a data warehouse. Any advice?
I'm the marketing guy, not the DBA.
April 1, 2000 I want to begin collecting e-mail addresses for newsletters, but my DBA is resisting an e-mail address-only database. How do...
My company finished a data warehousing project for a US e-commerce portal based on Microsoft technology.
April 1, 2000 Can you help me find resources that compare Oracle Express and Microstrategy?
We are a startup company aiming to develop a product to mine the network traffic for business intelligence.
April 1, 2000 Do you think it is a clever approach to extract information from the network traffic and let users combine it with data they...
I am working on my MBA and I have to complete a Hot Topics paper.
March 1, 2000 I am working on my MBA, and I was wondering if you have any thoughts on a hot topic within data mining?
Where do successful organizations place data warehousing and decision support systems within the internal IT organization.
March 1, 2000 Where do successful organizations place data warehousing and decision support systems within the internal IT organization?
I have worked on several warehouses and have found that host/4GL languages have a difficult time in performance compared to the inherent internal database processing that a high performance database stored procedures can offer...
March 1, 2000 If a tool can save development time but suffers host/4GL language performance issues, is the development time saved really...
We have just kicked off our data warehouse project, and I'd like to know where I can get information about the performance comparison between SQL Server and ShowCase's Strategy, because one of these two platforms will be our choice for the DW.
March 1, 2000 We have just kicked off our data warehouse project, and I'd like to know where I can get information about the performance...
My company has finished the first phase of a data warehouse, with total size of about 100GB.
March 1, 2000 Can you make a recommendation for an RDBMS candidate for our data warehouse?
I'm in the process of selecting client tools (DOLAP) for our Microsoft OLAP services-based data warehouse.
March 1, 2000 I'm in the process of selecting client tools (DOLAP) for our Microsoft OLAP services-based data warehouse. Where can I find...
I'm now in the process of evaluating two proposals for a data warehousing project.
March 1, 2000 I'm in the process of evaluating two proposals for a data warehousing project. Can you recommend any evaluation criteria?
We are at the preliminary stages of designing a data mart/data warehouse for a large government organization.
March 1, 2000 Our data warehouse is anticipated to grow to 1 TB during the next year, and we are attempting to determine the best hardware...
I am looking for a data mining solution and currently see SAS as being the leading provider.
March 1, 2000 Can you suggest who might be the main competitors to SAS in terms of data mining solutions?
Several of my clients have asked me what the salary averages are for data warehousing professionals and/or individuals trained in ETL and OLAP tools such as ETI*EXTRACT, Informatica and MicroStrategy.
February 1, 2000 Is there information about salary averages for data warehousing professionals and/or individuals trained in ETL and OLAP tools?
We are trying to help a client determine ROI on a data warehouse they want to build.
February 1, 2000 Is there any material or documents you would suggest I look at to help determine the ROI of a data warehousing initiative?
Can you offer information on any resources that discuss on-site data warehousing vs. off-site storage of the data warehouse?
February 1, 2000 Can you offer information on any resources that discuss on-site data warehousing vs. off-site storage of the data warehouse?
I'm a manager at General Motors and we have used QMF for years to extract data from our mainframe.
February 1, 2000 Can I use QMF for Windows to access our data from the Oracle database? Would we have to modify our present queries to do so?
Do I need a data warehouse to do data mining?
February 1, 2000 Do I need a data warehouse to do data mining?
I am in the process of looking for best practices in the area of SAP enterprise-wide master data management and control processes.
February 1, 2000 What are some best practices in the area of SAP enterprise-wide master data management and control processes?
We are in the process of loading a data warehouse from a mainframe source.
February 1, 2000 Is there a rule of thumb that would give me a 95 to 99 percent confidence level that the data in our warehouse is correct?
We have built a 700GB data warehouse. Now we want to initial a meta data project, what is the first step?
February 1, 2000 We have built a 700GB data warehouse, and we want to initial a meta data project. What is the first step?
Data Warehouse Project Management
January 7, 2000 Will your data warehouse implementation fail due to a lack of project management? This classic article from the DM Review...
We have our first data warehouse committee (7 people).
January 1, 2000 How can we justify the startup cost of a data warehouse infrastructure (for migration, transformation, administration tools,...
What advice would you give to a computer science student interested in pursuing a career in data warehousing?
January 1, 2000 What advice would you give to a computer science student interested in pursuing a career in data warehousing?
What system development methodologies are used for the development of decision support systems?
January 1, 2000 What system development methodologies are used for the development of decision support systems?
I am working on designing a CRM db.
January 1, 2000 Any advice regarding design and implementation of a very large database? What sort of object databases should I be considering...
We have recently implemented a standalone system for 15 branches.
January 1, 2000 Management is thinking of implementing a data warehouse to consolidate information, but we think the data warehouse should...
Have you come across situations where the information in the warehouse, relating to customers and their transactional history, becomes better or more valuable than in the system from which the transactional details were extracted?
January 1, 2000 Have you come across situations where the information in the warehouse becomes more valuable than in the system from which the...
Our organization has a centralized data architecture area that provides data modeling, meta data administration and enterprise architecture definition.
January 1, 2000 What has your experience been in having a centralized data architecture area support a very large data warehouse architecture...
Where can I find some good information about the data warehouse life cycle?
January 1, 2000 Where can I find some good information about the data warehouse life cycle?
I am working on my master's degree in information systems and am planning to concentrate in data warehousing.
January 1, 2000 Can utilize my accounting background (CPA) with data warehousing?
We have a data warehouse, a corporate data policy and a data management strategy.
January 1, 2000 What are the "best of class" corporations doing in the area of user-group administration of corporate data?
I am researching data warehousing in the insurance industry.
December 1, 1999 How many insurers are building or have built a data warehouse?
How valid is data warehousing in telecommunications?
December 1, 1999 How valid is data warehousing in telecommunications?
We are planning to implement a data warehousing project.
December 1, 1999 We are planning to implement a data warehousing project. Can you give me some advice on which platform will be the good...
If a CRM system allows updating customer data, how do I implement a data warehouse (which does not allow altering the data) into the system?
December 1, 1999 In what way is a CRM system different from a data warehouse?
This is a very trivial question.
December 1, 1999 I'm trying to build an application similar to a dictionary/thesaurus containing around 60 million words. What is a suitable...
My own experience in constructing a decision-support environment suggests that a data warehouse must be built to support key business drivers or performance indicators.
December 1, 1999 How many data warehouse projects are built to provide support for tracking key performance indicators?
We have just delivered our first data mart.
December 1, 1999 Should individual users have access to the warehouse, or should we implement a "help desk" setup whereby a user could request...
We are an AS/400 shop.
December 1, 1999 We are an AS/400 shop, but I would like to find information to support bringing in Unix RS/6000 (AIX) which I believe is a...
I'm working in a telephone company that is only three years old and still in a growing phase.
December 1, 1999 I'm considering a RAD approach (like DSDM) instead of a classical waterfall approach for our data warehouse project. What is...
During the planning process of a data warehouse and BI solution, what elements will determine the choice of these 2 approaches:
December 1, 1999 During the planning process of a data warehouse and BI solution, what elements will determine the choice of our approach?
How valid is data warehousing for any manufacturing sector?
December 1, 1999 How valid is data warehousing for the manufacturing sector?
What technologies are available to allow my data warehouse to be updated
December 1, 1999 What technologies are available to allow my data warehouse to be updated during the "online day?"
Data Warehouse Goals and Objectives
November 1, 1999 The last of this three-part series discusses the importance of synchronizing all data warehouse objectives with the strategic...
Would you provide an overview comparing tera data and db2/udb?
November 1, 1999 Would you provide an overview comparing tera data and db2/udb?
I have to do a data warehousing project. What's the best way to start?
November 1, 1999 What's the best way to start a data warehousing project?
Do you have any information regarding quality edits and procedures for loading warehouses and verifying data before releasing to the business groups?
November 1, 1999 What are the quality edits and procedures for loading warehouses and verifying data before releasing to the business groups?
We are currently building a customer data warehouse.
November 1, 1999 Would you recommend online, real-time updates to a data warehouse?
Have you found that some vendors market their product as a multidimensional index tool when, in fact, it is an inverted index?
October 1, 1999 Have you found that some vendors market their product as a multidimensional index tool when, in fact, it is an inverted index?...
I am consultant conducting an evaluation on several business intelligence companies, and I am using the following criteria for my evaluation:
October 1, 1999 I am consultant conducting an evaluation on several business intelligence companies, and I am looking for information or...
I am researching privacy and security issues within state government in developing a data warehouse.
October 1, 1999 I am researching privacy and security issues within state governments about developing a data warehouse. What kind of...
Data Warehouse Goals and Objectives
October 1, 1999 Part two of this three-part series discusses the short-term objectives of a data warehouse which can be realized with each...
Most star schema data warehouse technology we have examined uses a batch roll up
October 1, 1999 Is there technology available to do incremental loading (just the new transactions) and populating of a fact table?
What are the objectives that should be considered for a data warehousing strategy?
October 1, 1999 What are the objectives that should be considered for a data warehousing strategy?
What criteria should be used to determine if an existing data mart should continue to exist?
October 1, 1999 What criteria should be used to determine if an existing data mart should continue to exist?
I work for a state department and we are in the process of developing a logical data model (high level).
October 1, 1999 We are in the process of developing a logical data model, but our executives feel that it is a waste of resources. What would...
I was wondering what the difference is between database administrators and data administrators.
October 1, 1999 What is the difference between database administrators and data administrators?
How can the knowledge management concept be implemented in DW design, and is it possible to have an electronic DW?
October 1, 1999 How can the knowledge management concept be implemented in DW design?
What is the typical rate within data warehousing for promoting changes that effect transformation and data cleansing for existing subject areas that are in production?
October 1, 1999 What is the typical rate within data warehousing for promoting changes that effect transformation and data cleansing for...
Data Warehouse Goals and Objectives, Part 1
September 1, 1999 Part one of this three-part series on data warehouse goals and objectives discusses the evolution of decision support systems.
When our data warehouse went into production about 8 months ago, we never had any problems.
September 1, 1999 Everybody loves our data warehouse, but they don't love the long wait for responses to their queries. What are we doing wrong?
I am a mechanical engineer graduate with three years of functional experience.
September 1, 1999 Can you please advise me on the areas in which I should step toward becoming a data warehousing professional?
Indicators for Success
August 1, 1999 Discover the elements required for a successful data warehouse project. Authors Sid Adelman and Larissa Moss will take you...
I am preparing recommendations for Centralized database computing.
August 1, 1999 Where I can find details about centralized database computing?
What do you think about MOLAP?
August 1, 1999 What do you think about MOLAP? Do we make the same error in using them as we did when we used network database systems before...
Indicators of Success
July 15, 1999 Determining if your data warehouse is a success is more than just looking at the ROI. Everything from warehouse use to...
I think my girlfriend is seeing a data warehouse DBA.
July 1, 1999 I think my girlfriend is seeing a data warehouse DBA. How do I win her back?
I was told to build a data warehouse.
July 1, 1999 I was told to build a data warehouse. How should I get started?
I built a great data warehouse.
July 1, 1999 After building a data warehouse, we provided training for everyone in the department who could use the warehouse, but only a...
My data warehouse vendor says he can put in a data warehouse in 90 days.
July 1, 1999 My data warehouse vendor says he can put in a data warehouse in 90 days. Should I believe him?
My management is interested in a data warehouse but wants to know what it will cost.
July 1, 1999 My management is interested in a data warehouse but wants to know what it will cost.
My management has read some articles on the ROI from a data warehouse.
July 1, 1999 Management wants me to predict an ROI from a data warehouse. What kind of ROI should I be committing to?
Doesn't it require a lot of data duplication to keep tons of data in a central data warehouse, then export that data to various data marts?
July 1, 1999 Doesn't it require a lot of data duplication to keep tons of data in a central data warehouse, then export that data to...
Information Management discussion: Business Intelligence
