The Microsoft® Data Warehouse Toolkit: With SQL Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft® Business Intelligence Toolset, Second Edition

Chapter 18. Present Imperatives and Future Outlook

The endless loop.

This final chapter is a mix of topics. We begin with a brief guide to growing your DW/BI system after you have completed your first Lifecycle iteration. Next, we review the overall Lifecycle process, including some of the most common problems of each phase. Finally, we conclude with some of our likes and dislikes of the Microsoft DW/BI toolset and a brief wish list of how we hope to see the Microsoft BI product strategy and toolset evolve over the next few years.

Growing the DW/BI System

The DW/BI system is not a single one-time project; it is an ongoing, never-ending program. Once you complete an iteration of the Lifecycle, it's time to go back and do it again with the next top priority set of data on the bus matrix. If you've done the first pass right, you will have some happy users and evidence that you have provided real business value. It's always a good idea to verify the opportunity priority list with senior management before you start in on the next row of the bus matrix. It has probably been six to nine months or more, especially if this was your first round, and priorities may have changed. Checking in again helps ensure you're working on the most valuable data set, and it also reminds the business folks how focused you are on business value. They will be impressed!

At the same time you are focused on building the second and subsequent iterations, you need to be outwardly focused on the connections between ...