Data warehousing design

Once one knows what data warehousing really is, it can be used in one’s business or company. As every useful tool it needs to be kept up to date and maintained properly. If it’s not then it can become a hindrance rather than a help.

So, let’s take a closer look at some advice about how to design and implement one’s data warehouse in a way that maximize the probability of success.

First group of principles is concerned with the business and includes: organizational consensus, data integrity, implementation efficiency, user friendliness, and operational efficiency.
The first principle, organizational consensus, is concerned with one’s employees. If the team is not willing to accept and make use of the data warehouse it’s pointless to design and improve it. If the data warehouse is perceived as a futile intrusion by a company’s staff then they will not approve it and consequently will not benefit from it. Thus it’s significant to make sure to introduce the data warehouse concept properly to the staff.
Next principle, data integrity, stresses the importance of having a consistent data warehouse. The chances for data inconsistency and replication should be minimized. If data integration and standardization is done then any methodology that is implemented should be working.
The third principle, implementation efficiency, says about introducing and using data warehouse in the most effective way possible. If one’s data warehouse looks beautiful and elegant but does not meet company’s needs then it’s simply impractical.

The second last principle is user friendliness. Not only one’s staff needs to approve the data warehouse but, what is also equally important, be able to use it effectively. It should be designed in a way that guarantees that the least technically gifted person in the team will be capable of using it successfully.

The last principle, operational efficiency, is closely connected with the implementation efficiency because real operational efficiency can be achieved only with the data warehouse that is designed in a way that guarantees its easy implementation and maintenance.

A proper date warehouse should be designed as straightforward and efficient in implementation. A properly designed data warehouse should be easy enough to support and facilitate immediate responses to business requests.

The above information can be complimented with two principles for effective data warehouse design for IT environments.
The first one is scalability which can often pose a big problem in designing a proper data warehouse. The solution for this is simply to work in scalability from the very beginning. A company should use toolsets and platforms supporting future expansion of data and changing business requirements.
The second one is compliance with IT standards. It is simply about the need of levering already existing skill sets of both IT and business users.