Sid Adelman's Answer: The first question is how much was actually outsourced. Was it the data modeling, the database design, the ETL process, the query and report creation or all of the above? The biggest risk might be the absence of internal people who understand the system and can perform the necessary DW roles. I hope no one was fired when that division was outsourced. If your internal people are not trained, they will need to be, and you will need to give them enough time to ramp up their skills with the DW products and enough time to learn what the outsourcer has developed. Another risk might be the level of the outsourcer's documentation. A further major risk is the outsourcer not being thrilled about losing your business and their less than stellar cooperation as you bring what was once theirs under your wing.
Chuck Kelley's Answer: The two biggies that come to mind are 1) Do you have the resources (hardware, software, staff, physical structures and infrastructure); and 2) Are the processes and policies able to be duplicated within your company.
Clay Rehm's Answer: There are many items and risks to consider. Here are a few examples:
- Data standards and data quality. When you bring the warehouse back in house, will it meet the data standards already established by your organization? Will it meet the data quality standards? What processes do you have in place to make sure standards are in place and more importantly, that they stay in place?
- Roles and resources. Since the maintenance of the warehouse was done externally, do you have the resources (people, tools, etc.) to successfully maintain it? Does your staff have the correct skill sets? Where will the project requests to enhance it fall in priority? Who will manage the warehouse and who will be your project champion?
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.
Chuck Kelley is an internationally known expert in database and data warehousing technology. He has 30 years of experience in designing and implementing operational/production systems and data warehouses. Kelley has worked in some facet of the design and implementation phase of more than 50 data warehouses and data marts. He also teaches seminars, co-authored four books on data warehousing and has been published in many trade magazines on database technology, data warehousing and enterprise data strategies. He can be contacted at chuckkelley@usa.net.
Clay Rehm, CCP, PMP, is president of Rehm Technology (www.rehmtech.com), a consulting firm specializing in data integration solutions. Rehm provides hands-on expertise in project management, assessments, methodologies, data modeling, database design, metadata and systems analysis, design and development. He has worked in multiple platforms and his experience spans operational and data warehouse environments. Rehm is a technical book editor and is a co-author of the book, Impossible Data Warehouse Situations with Solutions from the Experts. In addition, he is a Certified Computing Professional (CCP), a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Software Engineering from Carroll College. He can be reached at clay.rehm@rehmtech.com.
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