A Parents Guide to Raising Your Data WarehouseRob Armstrong

Teradata, Director of Data Warehouse Support(and Kyle and Amy’s Dad)

With special thanks to…

All data warehouses are different

Have flexible guidelines

Best practices work because the companies make them work– What works for one may not work for you

Practices have to also fit into your financing and organizational philosophies– Is it your goal or your practice that is wrong?

Take what works and build on it– Motivation, organization, funding

Believe!Have a plan and commit to it.

Can’t run to second while you are still standing on first

Have a set of guiding principles– General processes that set the path– May be fine tuned within parameters

Align and direct resources– ETL, Modeling, and Applications should all

consider the total picturePut funding where it matters– What project funds integration?– What project funds data quality?

Play date or Play mate?

Need to have cooperation and integration

Consolidated data– Still inconsistent and unrelated– Each group has little interest in other groups

Integrated data– Consistent, relationships remain intact, reusable– Shared service levels and prioritization

Shared outlook creates Friendship– Are your metrics shared across IT and Business– Do your business users take ownership of the

data in the warehouse?

It is almost always easier to quit…but rarely is it right thing to do

Every obstacle is an opportunity

Performance Challenges?– Value of action– Service level agreements

Data Modeling?– Business definition consistency– Determining Ownership

Funding– Business case development– Prioritization of development

Unintended does not mean unexpected

Mom always said “don’t play ball in the house”

Understanding the consequences are criticalPlan for the known, even if not immediate– “Baby-proof” your data warehouse– Look for where time and cost accumulate

Growth always happens, are you ready?– Capacity, performance, expectations

Have rules and enforce them,

Sometimes you have to say NO

You get the behavior that you tolerate

Workload Management– Implies workload– Implies management

System Migrations– What is missing?– Why is the old system still used.

Where is the right place for work– Extracts are a red flag– ETL vs. ELT, Analytics heavy lifting

A failure to learn is a failure to teach

ElHi and beyond

Fundamentals– Teradata works differently– Define and forget

Relevance– Is your training being enforced with efforts– Lunch and learns, workshops, and others

Breadth– Need business education as well– Understanding the data

Expect better and you will get better

Metrics, Measure, Modify

Metrics– Do your metrics reflect your priorities?– Do your metrics align across functions?

Measure– Are your metrics visible by all?– Do the measurements reflect timeliness

Modify– What behavior do you want to see?– What rewards and communications are in use?

If you want responsibility, you also must have accountability

Ownership changes everything

Data Definitions and quality– Not just consistent but also accurate– If it is wrong, what happens to your actions

Value of performance– When do you know, when can you know?– What actions change with time?

Where to put your next dollar– What data enhances your decisions?– How can you get others to join in?

Have a plan for when they grow up

What do you want to be?

Data Warehouse Roadmap– What comes next– What can be leveraged elsewhere?

Application, Data, and Systems– Plan is not just about data– What goal are you trying to reach?

Priorities lead decisions, and actions– Governance, not regulation– How to get self service

Realize that you have to let go…but you never stop being a parent