The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit

Introduction xxxiii

create an enterprise DW/BI system. In this book, you will see a heavy reliance

on dimensional modeling as a way to present data to business users. We

recommend this approach for only one reason: It is demonstrably the best

organization of data to meet the business user’s desires for simplicity and high

query performance. We thank you in advance for following the dimensional

approach that is developed in this book. In the end, you are free to present

data to users in any way you think appropriate. But we urge you to constantly

revisit the fundamental goal of user satisfaction. We have learned to be humble

in the presence of business users. It’s not our opinion that matters; it’s theirs.

This book captures these perspectives. We will give you actionable skills

and actionable tools for getting your job done. Along the way, we hope to give

you the perspective and judgment we have accumulated in building DW/BI

systems since 1982.

Who Should Read this Book

The primary reader of this book should be a designer or a manager who really

needs to get about the business of building and managing a ‘‘data warehouse

that is a platform for business intelligence applications.’’ Because that is quite

a mouthful, we have consistently referred to this overall system with the name

‘‘DW/BI’’ to drive home the point that you are responsible for getting the data

all the way from the original source systems to the business users’ screens.

Although the book contains some introductory material, we think the book

will be of most use to an IT professional who has already had some exposure to

data warehousing. An appropriate next book, which would concentrate more

deeply on dimensional modeling, would be The Data Warehouse Toolkit, Second

Edition, by Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross, published in 2002.

You may have developed your experience and formed your opinions by

designing and delivering a real data warehouse. That is the best background

of all! There is no substitute for having had the responsibility of delivering an

effective DW/BI system. We the authors have all had the humbling experience

of presenting our ‘‘baby’’ to a crowd of demanding business users. It is

sometimes hard to accept the reality that most users have real jobs that

don’t involve technology. They may not even like technology particularly. But

business users will use our technology if it is easy to use and provides obvious

value.

This book is rather technical. The discussion of design techniques and

architectures will undoubtedly introduce terminology that you have not

encountered. We have combed this book carefully to make sure that the more

technical topics are ones we think you must understand. We have tried not

to get bogged down in detail for its own sake. There is a glossary of DW/BI

terms at the back of the book that will briefly explain the most insidious terms

that we all have to live with.