Data warehousing is one of the hottest business topics, and there’s more to understanding data warehousing technologies than you might think. Find out the basics of data warehousing and how it facilitates data mining and business intelligence with Data Warehousing For Dummies, 2nd Edition. Data is probably your company’s most important asset, so your data warehouse should serve your needs. The fully updated Second Edition of Data Warehousing For Dummies helps you understand, develop, implement, and use data warehouses, and offers a sneak peek into their future. You’ll learn to:
- Analyze top-down and bottom-up data warehouse designs
- Understand the structure and technologies of data warehouses, operational data stores, and data marts
- Choose your project team and apply best development practices to your data warehousing projects
- Implement a data warehouse, step by step, and involve end-users in the process
- Review and upgrade existing data storage to make it serve your needs
- Comprehend OLAP, column-wise databases, hardware assisted databases, and middleware
- Use data mining intelligently and find what you need
- Make informed choices about consultants and data warehousing products
Data Warehousing For Dummies, 2nd Edition also shows you how to involve users in the testing process and gain valuable feedback, what it takes to successfully manage a data warehouse project, and how to tell if your project is on track. You’ll find it’s the most useful source of data on the topic!
Table of Contents:
Introduction 1
Part I: The Data Warehouse: Home for Your Data Assets 7
Chapter 1: What’s in a Data Warehouse? 9
Chapter 2: What Should You Expect from Your Data Warehouse? 25
Chapter 3: Have It Your Way: The Structure of a Data Warehouse 37
Chapter 4: Data Marts: Your Retail Data Outlet 59
Part II: Data Warehousing Technology 71
Chapter 5: Relational Databases and Data Warehousing 73
Chapter 6: Specialty Databases and Data Warehousing 85
Chapter 7: Stuck in the Middle with You: Data Warehousing Middleware 95
Part III: Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing 113
Chapter 8: An Intelligent Look at Business Intelligence 115
Chapter 9: Simple Database Querying and Reporting 125
Chapter 10: Business Analysis (OLAP) 135
Chapter 11: Data Mining: Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off to Mine We Go 149
Chapter 12: Dashboards and Scorecards 155
Part IV: Data Warehousing Projects: How to Do Them Right 163
Chapter 13: Data Warehousing and Other IT Projects: The Same but Different 165
Chapter 14: Building a Winning Data Warehousing Project Team 179
Chapter 15: You Need What? When? — Capturing Requirements 193
Chapter 16: Analyzing Data Sources 203
Chapter 17: Delivering the Goods 213
Chapter 18: User Testing, Feedback, and Acceptance 225
Part V: Data Warehousing: The Big Picture 231
Chapter 19: The Information Value Chain: Connecting Internal and External Data 233
Chapter 20: Data Warehousing Driving Quality and Integration 247
Chapter 21: The View from the Executive Boardroom 263
Chapter 22: Existing Sort-of Data Warehouses: Upgrade or Replace? 271
Chapter 23: Surviving in the Computer Industry (and Handling Vendors) 281
Chapter 24: Working with Data Warehousing Consultants 291
Part VI: Data Warehousing in the Not-Too-Distant Future 297
Chapter 25: Expanding Your Data Warehouse with Unstructured Data 299
Chapter 26: Agreeing to Disagree about Semantics 305
Chapter 27: Collaborative Business Intelligence 311
Part VII: The Part of Tens 317
Chapter 28: Ten Questions to Consider When You’re Selecting User Tools 319
Chapter 29: Ten Secrets to Managing Your Project Successfully 325
Chapter 30: Ten Sources of Up-to-Date Information about Data Warehousing 331
Chapter 31: Ten Mandatory Skills for a Data Warehousing Consultant 335
Chapter 32: Ten Signs of a Data Warehousing Project in Trouble 339
Chapter 33: Ten Signs of a Successful Data Warehousing Project 343
Chapter 34: Ten Subject Areas to Cover with Product Vendors 347
Index 351
