The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit

Lifecycle Milestones 3

dimension tables, fact tables, and slowly changing dimensions have been

embedded in the interfaces of many DW/BI tools. While it’s both thrilling and

affirming that the concepts have been woven into the fiber of our industry,

they’re no longer differentiators of our approach. Second, despite our thought-

ful naming of the Business Dimensional Lifecycle, the result was a mouthful,

so most people in the industry simply refer to our methods as the Kimball

approach, anyhow. Therefore, we’re officially adopting the Kimball Lifecycle

nomenclature going forward.

In spite of dramatic advancements in technology and understanding during

the last couple of decades, the basic constructs of the Kimball Lifecycle

have remained strikingly constant. Our approach to designing, developing,

and deploying DW/BI solutions is tried and true. It has been tested with

projects across virtually every industry, business function, and platform. The

Kimball Lifecycle approach has proven to work again and again. In fact,

that’s the reasoning behind the Kimball Group’s ‘‘practical techniques, proven

results’’ motto.

Lifecycle Milestones

The overall Kimball Lifecycle approach to DW/BI initiatives is illustrated in

Figure 1-1. Successful implementation of a DW/BI system depends on the

appropriate integration of numerous tasks and components. It is not enough

to have the perfect data model or best-of-breed technology. You need to

coordinate the many facets of a DW/BI project, much like a conductor must

unify the many instruments in an orchestra. A soloist cannot carry a full

orchestra. Likewise, the DW/BI implementation effort needs to demonstrate

strength across all aspects of the project for success. The Kimball Lifecycle is

Program/Project Management

BI

Application

Development

Physical

Design

ETL

Design &

Development

Dimensional

Modeling

Product

Selection &

Installation

Business

Requirements

Definition

Technical

Architecture

Design

Program/

Project

Planning

Deployment

Growth

Maintenance

BI

Application

Design

Figure 1-1 The Kimball Lifecycle diagram.

4 Chapter 1 ■ Introducing the Kimball Lifecycle

similar to the conductor’s score. It ensures that the project pieces are brought

together in the right order and at the right time.

The Lifecycle diagram depicts the sequence of high level tasks required for

effective DW/BI design, development, and deployment. The diagram shows

the overall roadmap, while each box serves as a guidepost or mile/kilometer

marker. We’ll briefly describe the milestones, as well as provide refer-

ences to the corresponding chapters in this book for more specific driving

instructions.

Program/Project Planning

The Lifecycle begins with program and project planning, as one would expect.

Throughout this book, project refers to a single iteration of the Kimball Lifecycle

from launch through deployment; projects have a finite start and end. On the

other hand, program refers to the broader, ongoing coordination of resources,

infrastructure, timelines, and communication across multiple projects; a pro-

gram is an overall umbrella encompassing more than one project. It should

continuously renew itself and should rarely have an abrupt end.

Which comes first, the program or the project? Much like the classic chicken

and egg conundrum, it’s not always obvious which comes first. In some

organizations, executive agreement is reached to launch a DW/BI program

and then it’s a matter of prioritizing to identify the initial project. In other

situations, funding is provided for a single project or two, and then the need

for program coordination is subsequently realized. There’s no single right

approach or sequence.

There’s much greater consistency around project planning, beginning with

the scoping of the DW/BI project. Obviously, you must have a basic under-

standing of the business’s requirements to make appropriate scope decisions;

the bi-directional arrow between the project planning and business require-

ments boxes in Figure 1-1 shows this dependency. Project planning then

turns to resource staffing, coupled with project task identification, assignment,

duration, and sequencing. The resulting integrated project plan identifies

all tasks associated with the Kimball Lifecycle and the responsible parties.

It serves as the cornerstone for the ongoing management of your DW/BI

project. Chapter 2 details these launch activities, in addition to the ongoing

management of the program/project.

Program/Project Management

Program/project management ensures that the Kimball Lifecycle activities

remain on track and in sync. Program/project management activities focus

on monitoring project status, issue tracking, and change control to preserve

scope boundaries. Ongoing management also includes the development of