Articles and more

February 10, 2006

Be Prepared to Duel with Data Quality

Plenty of business intelligence (BI) or data warehouse projects have been blindsided by complications related to data quality. Sometimes these issues aren’t apparent until business users […]
January 12, 2006

Align Metadata and Business Initiatives

You don’t often hear “metadata management” and “business initiatives” in the same sentence. It’s time for that to change. Metadata management is the secret ingredient that […]
January 12, 2006

Technology can only solve part of the integration mystery

Each week millions of people watch the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or one of its offspring, CSI: NY and CSI: Miami. The premise of […]
November 12, 2005

The Enterprise Data Warehouse Strikes Again, Part II

As we discussed in my previous column, big data warehouses are back in style. In a 2004 TDWI study, 60 percent of respondents indicated that they were adopting […]
November 12, 2005

The Enterprise Data Warehouse Strikes Again, Part 1

Just like boot-cut jeans and fuel-efficient cars, big data warehouses are coming back in style.  Take a trip down memory lane, when IBM introduced the corporate […]
October 12, 2005

Extreme makeover: Data warehouse edition

Our high-tech culture suffers from a not-invented-here syndrome. If we weren’t the masterminds behind a project, we think it can’t possibly be a good one. When […]
September 29, 2005

Training? We don’t need no stinkin’ training …

While data warehousing technologies and methodologies have evolved over the years, ideologies, in many cases, have not. Taking a narrow-minded approach to your data warehousing strategy […]
August 12, 2005

Do People Really Understand Data Warehousing?

It’s been 20 years since the term “data warehousing” was first coined. Since then, it has evolved into a mainstream activity for Fortune 1000 companies, with […]
June 12, 2005

ODS Redux, Part 2

In part 1 of this article we discussed the ugly duckling called an operational data store (ODS). Rather than discussing the conventional wisdom and, quite frankly, the […]
June 12, 2005

ODS Redux, Part 1

What do you call that thing that’s holding your data? Don’t know? Then it must be an operational data store (ODS). No term has been muddied […]
June 12, 2005

IT is from Mars, Business users are from Venus

Have you ever wondered why companies buy software licenses from BI vendors for hundreds or even thousands of “seats” and only use a small fraction of […]
May 12, 2005

Hub-and-Spoke Redux

Religious wars. We have them in IT all the time. Everyone debates architecture. The “high priests” of our trade guard it. The approaches espoused by Ralph […]
May 12, 2005

Don’t be ‘tool myopic’

Much of the IT literature that you read focuses on tools and technology. That’s understandable, since product vendors churn out these materials to sell and market […]
April 28, 2005

Microsoft Excel: The king of BI

The current king of business intelligence (BI) tools is Microsoft Excel. Microsoft states that there are over 150 million Excel users, with many of them using […]
April 12, 2005

Mitigating Meta Data Misery

The thought of meta data management doesn’t exactly inspire whoops of joy from the average IT manager. However, like flossing, it’s one of those things you’ve […]
March 12, 2005

Data Franchising

If you’re trying to architect or build a cost-effective, productive business intelligence (BI) program, it’s important that you thoroughly understand the data franchising component of the […]
February 28, 2005

Set the Stage with Data Preparation

Data preparation is the core set of processes for data integration. These processes gather data from diverse source systems, transform it according to business and technical […]
January 28, 2005

There’s Nothing Funny about “Funny” Data

You’re involved in a business intelligence project, making great progress creating reports and cubes for analysis for your business users. They’re excited about what they see […]
December 12, 2004

Data Integration Depends on Vigilant Data Modeling

Key components of the data integration framework (DIF) are the software tools used to create, deploy and maintain it. This month, we discuss tools used for […]
October 12, 2004

Data Standards

  Data standards ensure the consistency, accuracy, integrity and validity that are critical to your success. Data is not usually clean and consistent, especially when gathered […]
September 12, 2004

Implementing a Data Integration Center of Expertise

In my earlier column “Do You Need a Data Integration Center of Expertise?,” I discussed these key points: You need to integrate data, not just create another version of […]
August 12, 2004

The Impact of New BI Trends on Data Integration

This month, we explore the impact of several business intelligence (BI) trends on data integration. These trends include: business (or corporate) performance management (BPM or CPM), […]
July 13, 2004

Do You Need a Data Integration Center of Expertise (DICE)?

Reining in the proliferation of expensive, redundant data silos requires a methodical approach that includes establishing a data integration center of expertise. In their quest for […]
May 13, 2004

Architecture Standards

In a previous article, I discussed the importance of adhering to product and technology standards to increase both the ROI of your IT investments and the value […]
April 13, 2004

Technology and Product Standards Keep Us On Track

Too many companies have implemented the “software du jour” – frequently switching to different hardware; operating systems; databases; applications; programming languages; extract, transform and load (ETL) […]
March 13, 2004

Software Development Standards Enhance Your Data Warehouse ROI

It was a wake-up call. When I first moved from a software firm to the information technology (IT) department of a Fortune 100 company, I was […]
February 13, 2004

Standards Let Us Play Nice Together

Remember the Betamax? How about eight-track tapes? If you remember either of these tape formats, you understand the importance of standards. Adhere to the wrong ones […]
January 13, 2004

Essential Steps in the Data Integration Process

The business users are restless. They’re looking to you for a solution that’s long overdue. It’s tempting to rush and buy technology to solve your problems, […]
December 13, 2003

Understanding the DIF Information Architecture

In an earlier column, I provided an overview of the five data integration framework (DIF) components. This month, I will examine the first component ­ –information […]
November 13, 2003

Ten Pervasive Data Integration Myths

You hear them from your business users. You hear them from your own IT people. These are the myths that drag down your business intelligence (BI) […]
October 13, 2003

Five Essential Components of a Data Integration Framework

Last month, I introduced you to the concept of a data integration framework (DIF) – a combination of processes, standards, people and tools that ultimately helps […]
October 12, 2003

EAI is Dead, Long Live EAI

Published in Darwin Magazine (CXO Media) Maybe applications integration isn’t really what you need. Maybe you need to find a way to integrate your data. If […]
September 13, 2003

Data Integration Advisor: An Introduction

Reining in the proliferation of expensive, redundant data silos requires a methodical approach that includes establishing a data integration center of expertise. In their quest for […]
August 13, 2003

Essential Guidelines for Evaluating Analytic Applications

There has been a great deal of industry buzz about analytic applications over the last year, much of it from the trade press, industry analysts and […]
August 12, 1997

Metadata – The Missing Link

Originally published by DMBS Magazine (Intelligent Enterprise/Information Week) A tremendous amount of resources are being used in enterprises to build data warehouses and data marts. This […]