©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Conducting Data Warehouse Assessments Joyce Bischoff Bischoff Consulting, Inc. Hockessin, Delaware

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Definition Reasons for assessments Assessment Approach –Building the Team –Assembling Information –Using Leading Questions –Interviewing managers, users, user support, technical staff Reporting the findings –Assessment Topics Summary Agenda

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Dynamic tool Structured approach for DW evaluation May be educational More than a checklist! Needs cooperative atmosphere No “right” answers- Answers depend upon participants! What is it?

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. To ensure: Business objectives are met Users are satisfied Technical staff is working effectively Corporate infrastructure is in place DW / DM processes are working effectively To ensure that tradeoffs are understood –Data currency & integrity –Data availability –User satisfaction –Performance –Flexibility Data Warehouse Assessments- Why?

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. ASSESSMENTS Readiness Assessment In-Development Assessments Post-implementation Assessment DESIGN REVIEWS Architectural Review Data Warehouse Data Model Review Data Transformation & Cleansing Review Programming Review Code/Utility Review Performance Review Includes all of the above Scheduling Assessments and Reviews

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Gather information & Identify problems Investigate Recommendations to correct problems » JAD sessions » Interviews » Questionnaires » Documentation Assess the current situation The Approach

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Is the data warehouse a success? Executives & Managers Users Technical Staff The Approach

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Team members –Need mix of skills to examine Assessment Topics –Must provide objective evaluation –Need interviewing skills and technical skills –Should understand best practices in the industry –Makes recommendations based on best practices Each topic needs an assigned leader Team may include 2-6 people (average) What about politics?? Building the Team

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Project scope & documented requirements Business objectives of DW Organization chart, including list of data warehouse staff, key managers, and users Roles & responsibilities and how assigned Training programs for users and DW team DW architecture description, including data marts, ODS, DW, and relationships Standards, guidelines, & procedures Assembling Information

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Asking the right questions at the right time is the basis for successful assessments Leading questions provide a basic check list and should be prepared in advance Drill down as far as necessary to obtain needed information DW assessments require more than a checklist.... but a checklist helps! Using Leading Questions

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Questions: –Must be tailored for your situation –Printed questionnaires; may be anonymous –JAD sessions –One-on-one interviews –Always ask for additional comments Leading questions are only a starting point Answers point the way to identifying weaknesses and proposing improvements ? Using Leading Questions

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. DW Strategy Business Value User Satisfaction Organizational Issues Business Requirements Development Methodology DW Architecture Standards & Guidelines Vendor Relationships Assessment Topics

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Metadata Strategy Data Modeling Database Design DW Administration Data Access & Delivery Performance & Capacity Future Planning Data Management Assessment Topics

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Is the data warehouse a success? –Business value –Return on investment –Organizational issues From your perspective, what are its strong and weak points? Did it meet strategic objectives? Which ones? Future plans for the DW or DM Are there particular persons that we should be sure to talk with (in addition to our present list)? Sample Questions for Executives & Managers

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Why was the DW / DM built? Discuss the following areas with appropriate members of the technical staff: –User satisfaction –Standards & Guidelines –Metadata strategy –Data management processes –Performance and capacity planning –Data access and delivery issues –Data modeling & database design –Future planning Discuss the process & results of the processes for each technical area Sample Questions for Technical Staff

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Project starts with user requirements and will be judged against them Why was the data warehouse built? Were your special requirements considered? Business value realized? Money saved? Improved efficiency? Most important benefit realized? What is the most important question that you cannot ask? Technical staff responsive to new requirements? Level of satisfaction with DW/DM, ease of use, end-user tools, availability, etc.? Is data easy to use? Sample Questions for Users

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Adequately staffed? Types of problems encountered? Do you have problems addressing problems? Adequate support from the technical staff? Users adequately trained in data and tools? User expectations well managed? How could it be improved? End User Support Help Desk

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Summarize findings of interviews, JAD sessions, questionnaires, and analysis of documentation Cover each assessment topic that was addressed during the review Following pages summarize sample issues in each subject area Building the Report

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. What is the data warehouse strategy? Is it designed to fundamentally change the way business decisions are made? Does the strategy allow for iterative development with increasing benefits after each cycle? DW Strategy

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. How / who sets priorities for DW development? Review procedures for evaluating ROI Business benefits from using DW, DM, or ODS? Business Value

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Review processes for: –Gathering requirements –Determining new requirements –Keeping requirements current –Identifying gaps between stated requirements and actual capabilities How well are current requirements met? Suggest ideas for encouraging creative use of existing data Business Requirements

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Has an “official” strategic alliance been created between the users and IT staff? Is there a high level user sponsor? Mission and objectives in line with corporate business objectives? Sufficient budget allocated? Organizational roadblocks? Who are the users? How will they be involved? How will the users be trained and supported? What are the users’ expectations? Organizational Issues: Leading Questions

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Process in place for responding to user complaints about performance, data quality, data availability, data integrity, and consistency? Does the technical staff have the skills needed to support the DW? Roles and responsibilities defined and assigned? Source data documented? What is the quality of the source data? How will technical personnel track data usage and changing user requirements? End-user tools and development tools selected? Organizational Issues: Leading Questions

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. How are data warehouse projects planned? Does everyone understand definitions of DW and data warehouse technology? Effective methodology in place? –Are RAD techniques used? –All phases and activities time-boxed? –Methodology flexible enough to accommodate projects of varying sizes, ODS, DM, DW? DW Methodology

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Review use of DW, DM, ODS and their relationships Review effectiveness of current hardware / software / DW tools Scalability? How does the data flow? DW Architecture

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Do you track data usage? Table level? Column level? Row level? Do you track trends in growth of specific tables? How do you allocate space? How do you determine what data needs to be audited? Do you know which users use which data? Do you know which access paths are needed by various users? How do you determine this? What is your process for implementing new access paths? Data Management

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Review process of selecting source data, extraction, cleansing, and transformation Review processes for maintaining data quality Are there problems with data consistency? Identify opportunities for data integration How do you handle requests for additional data? How do you handle backup, recovery, reorganization, etc.? Data Management

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. How do you measure performance in the DW? Do you have service level agreements? –On what are they based? How do you measure user satisfaction with performance? How do you measure trends in performance? Comparisons of today vs. another day? This week vs. last week? How do you identify hot spots in databases? How do you identify candidates for re-partitioning? Do you have a scalable environment in terms of hardware and software? Performance & Capacity Planning

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Review existing metadata strategy –Locations and consistency between locations –Processes for keeping it current –Accessibility to users and technical personnel Metadata Strategy

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Review standards, guidelines, and procedures, if available –Requirements gathering and documentation –Architecture guidelines –Data and metadata –Database design, development, administration –Development –Data quality, cleansing, transformation –etc. Assess effectiveness DW Standards, Guidelines, and Procedures

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. DSS EIS Ad Hoc Traditional Data Warehouse Data Mart Data Mart Data Mart Data Mining Data Access & Delivery

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. What types of data modeling are used? Are they effective? Compare with best practices Where are models stored? Are they integrated and reusable? Do users have access to data models? –Which ones? –How do they use them? Data Modeling

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Review processes used to design databases –Usage of data models –Selection of DBMS –Design review processes (if applicable) –Design guidelines for specific DBMSs Review database designs for selected subject areas –Multi-level data architecture? –Managed data redundancy? Compare with best practices Database Design

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Compile the results of all interviews, JAD sessions, questionnaires, reviews, and analysis of documentation Include the topic, findings, and recommendations for each area analyzed Level of detail will depend upon concerns raised by interviewees –Concerns will require deeper analysis in selected areas –Findings will depend upon the persons interviewed! DW Assessment Report

©1999, 2002, Joyce Bischoff, All rights reserved. Executives & Managers Users Technical Staff Design Development Administration Organization Management processes Strategy Business Value ROI Summary of the Process