Adventures in data warehousing

Data warehousing is exactly what it sounds like: create a central storage space for large amounts of data, so that it can be accessed by many different people and applications. I had an opportunity recently to work on a data warehouse, so I thought I’d write up a bit about the experience.

Here are three practical principles for data warehousing that everyone already knows.

#1: Model and plan, because if you build a warehouse for data that doesn’t exist (or connectors for sources that have changed), the project will fail.

#2: Talk to end-users, because if you build a warehouse that no one will use, the project will fail.

#3: Involve your sponsors and stakeholders, because if you don’t have the money to finish the warehouse, the project will fail.

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