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Data Warehouse Management

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A major factor in the efficiency of a data warehouse is its management. The ongoing process of preparing data for storage, storage of that data, and retrieval of that data for reports requires an unwavering system. The data warehouse manager should not be a person who is prone to being too flexible or at all unorganized. In fact, for the data warehouse system to be of value to the company, rules must be set out before the creation of the system that will not be appreciably altered over time.

When choosing a data warehouse manager, qualities such as attention to detail and being able to juggle several tasks at once should be considered of utmost importance.

When deciding which records to include and exclude, a team approach should be implemented so that all facets of the company are represented. Ignoring small parts of the company’s operations can lead to an inaccurate representation of the company in the future.

Other considerations are:

Who will staff the data warehouse?
What training will be necessary to begin and maintain the data warehouse?
How often will updates be made to the data warehouse?
Who will be in charge of the update process and to whom will they be responsible?

Your overall business plan should provide the basic building blocks of what data to store in the data warehouse, but other factors will also play a part. If the business plan includes major growth in any one area in the foreseeable future, then records from that area must be included in the data warehouse, perhaps in a smaller data mart subset. If the planning team believes that a section of the company may be becoming obsolete, then records that will help that decision process along the way may also be necessary.

Just as with other facets of the business, the data warehouse system will not be a static entity gathering dust in a back room. For a data warehouse to be an efficient part of the team, it must be maintained, updated and well managed in order to be an asset to the business team, not a liability. However with proper planning and management, the data warehouse can help build the business into the well-oiled machine that the founders hoped it could be.

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