A Manager's Guide to Data Warehousing

Chapter 12. Managing the Production Data Warehouse

The effort and energy needed to sustain a data warehouse does not end when the project tasks are all complete. This chapter shares what is needed to release the data warehouse for use and what steps are necessary to formally wrap up the project. It also looks forward, describing what can be done to encourage adoption of the data warehouse. Additional effort is also required to keep the data warehouse running. Finally, the chapter explores what can cause a data warehouse to fall short of expectations, and offers practical steps to get things back on track.

Finishing the Project

The project has been underway for many weeks or possibly months. The requirements have been gathered and the overall solution designed. The ETL system was built and the data has been loaded and validated. A BI application has been built to facilitate use of the data warehouse. Only a few more things are needed to wrap up the project.

Recapping the BI Application Launch

Ideas for launching the BI application were introduced in Chapter 11. These launch activities are some of the last tasks on the project. Highlights of the launch activities include the following:

• Marketing and communication to let potential users of the data warehouse know that it is ready for use. These efforts can also help pique interest by demonstrating how the data warehouse can support users with their work.

• Two kinds of education are needed:

  • Education about data content, meaning, and how to ...