Build a Data Warehouse
Business insights come from both structured and unstructured data.
Contributors
- Debora Bielecki, Partner, Bielecki & Associates
- Devon Wright, CEO, Turnstyle Solutions
- Relational data warehouses, although reliable, centralized repositories for corporate data, were not built to handle the speed and volume of data and analytics today.
- IT is under immense pressure from business units to provide technology that will yield greater agility and insight.
- While some organizations are benefitting from modernization technologies, the majority of IT departments are unfamiliar with the technologies and have not yet defined clear use cases.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- The vast majority of your corporate data is not being properly leveraged. Modernize the data warehouse to get value from the 80% of unstructured data that goes unused.
- Avoid rip and replace. Develop a future state that complements your existing data warehouse with emerging technologies.
- Be flexible in your roadmap. Create an implementation roadmap that’s incremental and adapts to changing business priorities.
Impact and Result
- Establish both the business and IT perspectives of today’s data warehouse environment.
- Explore the art-of-the-possible. Don’t get stuck trying to gather technical requirements from business users who don’t know what they don’t know. Use Info-Tech’s interview guide to discuss the pains of the current environment, and more importantly, where stakeholders want to be in the future.
- Build an internal knowledgebase with respect to emerging technologies. The technology landscape is constantly shifting and often difficult for IT staff to keep track of. Use Info-Tech’s Data Warehouse Modernization Technology Education Deck to ensure that IT is able to appropriately match the right tools to the business’ use cases.
- Create a compelling business case to secure investment and support.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should be looking to modernize the relational data warehouse, review Info-Tech’s framework for identifying modernization opportunities, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Assess the current data warehouse environment
Review the business’ perception and architecture of the current data warehouse environment.
2. Define modernization drivers
Collaborate with business users to identify the strongest motivations for data warehouse modernization.
3. Create the modernization future state
Combine business ideas with modernization initiatives and create a roadmap.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is a six call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Assess the current data warehouse environment
Call #1 - Discuss Info-Tech’s approach to modernization and the importance of business input
Call #2 - Review business user survey results and discuss how to define the current state from an IT perspective
Guided Implementation #2 - Define modernization drivers
Call #1 - Review IT’s current state assessment and discuss conducting business user workshops/interviews
Call #2 - Review modernization ideas from the business; create approach for building internal IT knowledge for modernization technology
Guided Implementation #3 - Create the modernization future state
Call #1 - Match modernization technologies to business ideas and discuss future state diagrams
Call #2 - Review finalized initiatives, discuss costs/benefits, and build modernization roadmap
Book Your Workshop
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Assess the Current Data Warehouse Environment
The Purpose
- Discuss the general project overview for data warehouse modernization.
- Establish the business and IT perspectives of the current state.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Holistic understanding of the current data warehouse.
- Business user engagement from the start of the project.
Activities
Outputs
Review data warehouse project history.
- Data warehouse maturity assessment
Evaluate data warehouse maturity.
Draw architecture diagrams.
Review supporting data management practices.
- Data architecture diagrams
Module 2: Explore Business Opportunities
The Purpose
- Conduct a user workshop session to elicit the most pressing needs of business stakeholders.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Modernization technology selection is directly informed by business drivers.
- In-depth IT understanding of the business pains and opportunities.
Activities
Outputs
Review general trends and drivers in your industry.
- Business ideas for modernization
Identify primary business frustrations, opportunities, and risks.
Identify business processes to target for modernization.
Capture business ideas for the future state.
- Defined strategic direction for data warehouse modernization
Module 3: Review the Technology Landscape
The Purpose
- Educate IT staff on the most common technologies for data warehouse modernization.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Improved ability for IT to match technology with business ideas.
Activities
Outputs
Appoint Modernization Advisors.
- Modernization Advisors identified
Hold an open education and discussion forum for modernization technologies.
- Modernization technology education deck
Module 4: Define Modernization Solutions
The Purpose
- Consolidate business ideas into modernization initiatives.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Refinement of the strategic direction for data warehouse modernization.
Activities
Outputs
Match business ideas to technology solutions.
- Identified strategic direction for data warehouse modernization
Group similar ideas to create modernization initiatives.
- Defined modernization initiatives
Create future-state architecture diagrams.
- Future-state architecture for data warehouse
Module 5: Establish a Modernization Roadmap
The Purpose
- Validate and build out initiatives with business users.
- Define benefits and costs to establish ROI.
- Identify enablers and barriers to modernization.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Completion of materials for a compelling business case and roadmap.
Activities
Outputs
Validate use cases with business users.
- Validated modernization initiatives
Define initiative benefits.
Identify enablers and barriers to modernization.
Define preliminary activities for initiatives.
Evaluate initiative costs.
- Data warehouse modernization roadmap
Determine overall ROI.
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Festival Foods, Inc.
Guided Implementation
8/10
$125K
50
Platte River Power Authority
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
AgriMarchй
Guided Implementation
9/10
$25,000
18
SmartCentres Management Services Inc
Guided Implementation
6/10
N/A
90
