The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support
*** November 18, 1997: Vol. 1, No. 7 ***
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ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY
TOP TEN TIPS FOR DATA WAREHOUSE SUCCESS
by Sid Adelman
Sid Adelman is President of Sid Adelman & Associates, a Sherman Oaks, California based consulting firm specializing in data warehouse and strategic data architecture. He co-authored a methodology and project planning tool tailored for data warehouses. Sid is an international speaker at data warehouse and industry conferences. He has written a number of articles on data warehouse and has chapters on data quality and organizational and cultural issues in Data Warehouse: A Practical Guide from the Experts.
In this pithy, trenchant essay, Adelman targets the key factors that create the critical difference between successful data warehousing and well-intentioned but ultimately futile efforts.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE DATA WAREHOUSE
by Doug Laney, Consulting Manager, Prism Solutions
Doug Laney joined Prism Solutions following several years in the knowledge base systems field managing the development of complex decision support systems. Presently, he manages Prism's central region consulting group. He has headed the design of several data warehouse development projects and managed Prism's effort to produce Release 2.0 of its data warehouse development methodology, Iterations. Laney has also published several articles on data warehousing.
Laney observes: "When it comes down to it there are really only two types of business systems we develop: one that runs the business and one that reports the business. This is really the difference between systems that are data input centric and those that are data output centric. The common element here is data access, availability, integration, and analysis -- all among the promises of the data warehouse."
TIPS FOR CHOOSING ENTERPRISE-WIDE DSS SOFTWARE
by D. J. Power
Editor of the World-Wide web site DSS Research Resources and the ISWorld pages on Decision Support Systems, Daniel Power is professor of Information Systems and Management in the College of Business Administration, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA. His research interests include the design and development of decision support systems and how DSS impact individual and organizational decision behavior. Power has published more than 20 articles and papers. He is also the senior author of a textbook titled Strategic Management Skills (Addison-Wesley, 1986). Power served as the Head of the Management Department at UNI from August 1989 to January 1996. He served as Acting Dean of the UNI College of Business Administration from January 1996 to July 31, 1996.
Power notes: "Choosing an enterprise-wide DSS software package is a major corporate decision that will have profound implications for the competitiveness of a firm for many years. Firms should invest significant funds in making this decision and senior managers need to be very involved in all aspects of the decision process. Senior managers should NOT just ratify a decision made by technical managers."
ACTION ITEMS
Informix Powers Five New Enterprise Database Applications for Choice Hotels International
Informix Software, Inc., a provider of innovative database technology, announced that Choice Hotels International, one of the largest hotel franchisors, is deploying five new enterprise database applications using INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server, including its ChoiceCentral intranet, PeopleSoft financials and ICBM (Informix Choice Business Management) system.
SolutionsIQ Ships Universal Data Access Tool
SolutionsIQ, a leading supplier of universal data access tools, announced first customer shipments of CONNX 7.0, billed as the first truly universal "datapump. " The newly-architected CONNX 7.0 is open standards-based data access software that provides PC clients with secure, real-time read/write access to multiple heterogeneous databases. With this announcement, CONNX 7.0 supports RDB and DBMS databases, in addition to RMS and DataFlex databases. The company will also ship UNIX Sequential File System, Oracle and DB2 versions in 1998.
Parallel Processing Versions of Oracle8 Prepared
Oracle Parallel Server (OPS) for Oracle8 promises greater processing power and scalability by enabling the database to be distributed across multiple computers. Shipping since June in uniprocessor and symmetric multiprocessing modes, Oracle8 provides enhanced support for data warehousing, backup, and objects.
CONFERENCE CALENDAR
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