Data Warehousing For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 33. Ten Signs of a Successful Data Warehousing Project

In This Chapter

• Getting praise from executives and coworkers

• Seeing people actually use and discuss the data warehouse

• Gaining your CEO's confidence

• Climbing the corporate ladder

As mentioned elsewhere in this book, just because everyone gathers in the company cafeteria for cake and plasters the walls with congratulatory banners doesn't mean that your data warehousing project was a success. This chapter gives you some ways to tell that you were really successful.

The Executive Sponsor Says, "This Thing Works — It Really Works!"

Suppose that a senior executive at your company makes it a point to find you so that he or she can tell you that you did a great job and that you're a nice person and that the data warehouse you built and delivered really works — and everyone is using it. The executive even points out that the warehouse is delivering information that is being factored into boardroom-level decisions.

You succeeded!

You Receive a Flood of Suggested Enhancements and Additional Capabilities

Sometimes, after the celebratory party in the cafeteria, a data warehouse slowly fades away like an old soldier. (Quiz: Who used a similar phrase, to what audience, and in what year?)

Users and their managers might bang on your office door (or, more likely, invade your cubicle) to show you memo pads that contain sketches of additional reports and queries that they want, asking questions such as, "How hard would it be to add this feature?" ...