Business intelligence roadmap : the complete project lifecycle for decision-support applications

About the Authors. Foreword. Preface. The Purpose of This Book. Complexity. Step-by-Step Guide. How This Book Is Organized. Part I: Stages and Steps. Part II: At a Glance. How to Use This Book. Who Should Read This Book. Business Representatives. Business Sponsors. Project Managers. Technicians. Comments. I. STAGES AND STEPS. 0. Guide to the Development Steps. Business Intelligence Definition. BI Decision-Support Initiatives. Development Approaches. The Traditional Development Approach. The Cross-Organizational Development Approach. Engineering Stages and the Development Steps. Parallel Development Tracks. BI Project Team Structure. The Core Team. The Extended Team. The BI Arbitration Board. Justification for Using This Project Lifecycle Guide. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 1. Step 1: Business Case Assessment. Business Justification. Business Drivers. Business Analysis Issues. Information Needs. Types of Data Sources. Source Data Quality. Cost-Benefit Analysis. Risk Assessment. Business Case Assessment Activities. Deliverable Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 2. Step 2: Enterprise Infrastructure Evaluation. Step 2, Section A: Technical Infrastructure Evaluation. The Hardware Platform. Controlled Chaos. Hardware Platform Requirements. The Middleware Platform. DBMS Gateways. The DBMS Platform. Criteria for Selecting a DBMS. Technical Infrastructure Evaluation Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 2, Section A. Step 2, Section B: Nontechnical Infrastructure Evaluation. The Effects of Stovepipe Development. The Need for Nontechnical Infrastructure. Enterprise Architecture. Enterprise Standards. Nontechnical Infrastructure Evaluation Activities. Deliverable Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 2, Section B. Bibliography and Additional Reading. Technical Infrastructure Evaluation. Nontechnical Infrastructure Evaluation. 3. Step 3: Project Planning. Managing the BI Project. Defining the BI Project. Project Goals and Objectives. Project Scope. Project Risks. Project Constraints. Assumptions. Change-Control Procedures. Issues Management Procedures. Planning the BI Project. Activities and Tasks. Estimating Techniques. Resource Assignment. Task Dependencies. Resource Dependencies. Critical Path Method. Project Schedules. Project Planning Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 3. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 4. Step 4: Project Requirements Definition. General Business Requirements. Interviewees for General Business Requirements. Data Quality Requirements. Business Requirements Report . Project-Specific Requirements. Interviewees for Project-Specific Requirements. Application Requirements Document. The Interviewing Process. Interviewing Considerations. Interviewing Tips. Project Requirements Definition Activities. Deliverable Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 4. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 5. Step 5: Data Analysis. Business-Focused Data Analysis. Top-Down Logical Data Modeling. Project-Specific Logical Data Model. Enterprise Logical Data Model. Logical Data Modeling Participants. Standardized Business Meta Data. Bottom-Up Source Data Analysis. Technical Data Conversion Rules. Business Data Domain Rules. Business Data Integrity Rules. Data Cleansing. Data Quality Responsibility. Source Data Selection Process. Key Points of Data Selection. To Cleanse or Not to Cleanse. Cleansing Operational Systems. Data Analysis Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 5. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 6. Step 6: Application Prototyping. Purposes of Prototyping. Time-Boxing. Best Practices for Prototyping. Considerations for Prototyping. Types of Prototypes. Show-and-Tell Prototype. Mock-Up Prototype. Proof-of-Concept Prototype. Visual-Design Prototype. Demo Prototype. Operational Prototype. Building Successful Prototypes. Prototype Charter. Guidelines for Prototyping. Skills Survey. Application Prototyping Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 6. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 7. Step 7: Meta Data Repository Analysis. The Importance of Meta Data. Meta Data Categories. Meta Data Repository as Navigation Tool. Data Standardization. Meta Data Classifications. Groupings of Meta Data Components. Prioritization of Meta Data Components. Meta Data Repository Challenges. Technical Challenges. Staffing Challenges. Budget Challenges. Usability Challenges. Political Challenges. The Logical Meta Model. The Entity-Relationship Meta Model. Meta-Meta Data. Meta Data Repository Analysis Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 7. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 8. Step 8: Database Design. Differences in Database Design Philosophies. Operational Databases. BI Target Databases. Logical Database Design. The Star Schema. The Snowflake Schema. Physical Database Design. Implementation Options. Physical Dataset Placement. Partitioning. Clustering. Indexing. Reorganizations. Backup and Recovery. Parallel Query Execution. Database Design Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 8. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 9. Step 9: Extract/Transform/Load Design. Implementation Strategies. Preparing for the ETL Process. The Initial Load. The Historical Load. The Incremental Load. Designing the Extract Programs. Designing the Transformation Programs. Source Data Problems. Data Transformations. Designing the Load Programs. Referential Integrity. Indexing. Designing the ETL Process Flow. The Source-to-Target Mapping Document. The ETL Process Flow Diagram. The Staging Area. Evaluating ETL Tools. ETL Design Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 9. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 10. Step 10: Meta Data Repository Design. Meta Data Silos. Sources of Meta Data. Meta Data Repository Solutions. Centralized Meta Data Repository. Decentralized Meta Data Repository. Distributed XML-Enabled Meta Data Solution. Designing a Meta Data Repository. Entity-Relationship Design. Object-Oriented Design. Licensing (Buying) a Meta Data Repository. Product Evaluation. Vendor Evaluation. Meta Data Repository Design Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 10. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 11. Step 11: Extract/Transform/Load Development. Source Data Transformation. Data Transformation Activities. Underestimating Data Transformation Efforts. Reconciliation. Calculating Reconciliation Totals. Storing Reconciliation Statistics. Peer Reviews. ETL Testing. Unit Testing. Integration Testing. Regression Testing. Performance Testing. Quality Assurance Testing. Acceptance Testing. Formal Test Plan. ETL Development Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 11. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 12. Step 12: Application Development. Online Analytical Processing Tools. Advantages of OLAP Tools. OLAP Tool Features. Multidimensional Analysis Factors. Multivariate Analysis. Online Analytical Processing Architecture. Presentation Services. OLAP Services. Database Services. Development Environments. Application Development Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 12. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 13. Step 13: Data Mining. Defining Data Mining. The Importance of Data Mining. Data Sources for Data Mining. Data Mining Techniques. Associations Discovery. Sequential Pattern Discovery. Classification. Clustering. Forecasting. Data Mining Operations. Predictive and Classification Modeling. Link Analysis. Database Segmentation. Deviation Detection. Applications of Data Mining. Data Mining Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 13. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 14. Step 14: Meta Data Repository Development. Populating the Meta Data Repository. Meta Data Repository Interface Processes. The Tool Interface Process. The Access Interface Process. Meta Data Repository Testing. Preparing for the Meta Data Repository Rollout. Meta Data Repository Directory. Meta Data Repository Development Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 14. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 15. Step 15: Implementation. Incremental Rollout. Security Management. Security Measures for BI Applications. Security in a Multi-Tier Environment. Security for Internet Access. Data Backup and Recovery. Monitoring the Utilization of Resources. Computer Utilization. Network Utilization. Personnel Utilization. Growth Management. Growth in Data. Growth in Usage. Growth in Hardware. Implementation Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 15. Bibliography and Additional Reading. 16. Step 16: Release Evaluation. The Application Release Concept. Guidelines for Using the Release Concept. Post-Implementation Reviews. Organizing a Post-Implementation Review. Post-Implementation Review Session Flow. Release Evaluation Activities. Deliverables Resulting from These Activities. Roles Involved in These Activities. Risks of Not Performing Step 16. Bibliography and Additional Reading. II. AT A GLANCE. 17. Resource Allocation Matrix. 18. Entry & Exit Criteria and Deliverables Matrix. 19. Activity Dependency Matrix. 20. Task/Subtask Matrix. 21. Practical Guidelines Matrix. Appendix. Work Breakdown Structure. Index