| I have to admit the term "strategic decision | | | | combine data that never been combined before. |
| making" can conjure up a lot of different | | | | You are doing this so the decision makers can |
| meanings to a lot of people. And the first one | | | | see a point of view that is not the common view |
| that springs to mind, but probably not of the | | | | of the business. Basically to see the business in a |
| decision makers themselves, is that it is one that | | | | different perspective. |
| involves spending a lot of money hiring a lot of | | | | Much of the use of data warehousing for making |
| people who are going to cause a lot of pain to a | | | | decisions ultimately involves the use of user |
| lot of people until the next strategic decision is | | | | maintained spreadsheets. Data cleanliness is much |
| made. | | | | less of a concern in strategic decision making. |
| Now you must appreciate that strategic decision | | | | Analysis is often done with highly summarized |
| making is not one of the primary uses of data | | | | data and the need for speed lowers the need for |
| warehouses, thankfully because strategic decision | | | | extremely clean data. |
| making is not done that often. Most data | | | | The information generated by the data |
| warehouses are used primarily for post decision | | | | warehouse has to be understood by people who |
| monitoring of the effects of these decisions. | | | | do not have direct access to the data warehouse. |
| However, some data warehouses do get involved | | | | Most users will want to communicate the |
| in strategic decision making and are usually very | | | | information in printed reports created using a |
| effective. | | | | word processor, presentation tool, spreadsheet, |
| So how would you use use a data warehouse in a | | | | or generated directly from the database. |
| decision making exercise. Before you start one | | | | Do not try to design your warehouse for every |
| thing to bear in mind is that the life-span of | | | | contingency that could occur in a strategic decision |
| systems for strategic decision making tend to be | | | | making exercise. You cannot possibly foresee |
| relatively short and the creation of "special" | | | | everything that will be needed in these exercises. |
| databases, modelling and formal reporting are | | | | You are going to find it very hard to calculate the |
| very time consuming tasks. | | | | expected ROI of a data warehouse project. Most |
| The days spent using these systems can be | | | | businesses go on faith that the effort will be |
| counted on one hand, though the payoff can be | | | | worth it. If the strategic decision making exercise |
| better than those reporting system that have | | | | was a success despite, in your mind being very |
| been used for years. | | | | messy, can strongly support the fact that the |
| The time-scale you are given to produce the | | | | data warehouse was worth the effort. If you do |
| system can be anything from a long afternoon to | | | | not justify a data warehouse before building it, it |
| several weeks. And with no time for formal | | | | smart move and probably their decision anyway. |
| interviews you become the business analyst. | | | | If you have to justify the data warehouse after |
| Requirements are usually gleaned from "business" | | | | the fact, the best way is to hold a strategic |
| meeting minutes and are usually ambiguous. You | | | | decision making exercise. |
| will be required to aggregate data differently, and | | | | |