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February 10, 2006
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 […]