By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics in sports industry
    Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
    6 Min Read
    data analytics on nursing career
    Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
    8 Min Read
    data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
    Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
    9 Min Read
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Exterior Design
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Business Intelligence > Business Rules > Exterior Design
Business RulesData Warehousing

Exterior Design

Rob Armstrong
Last updated: 2011/03/29 at 3:58 PM
Rob Armstrong
6 Min Read
SHARE

Sometimes the universe just screams an idea at you and all you can do is listen to it.  As I pondered my initial foray into the blogosphere, I was pointed to Jill Dyche’s  blog on designing a competency center (Feb.

Sometimes the universe just screams an idea at you and all you can do is listen to it.  As I pondered my initial foray into the blogosphere, I was pointed to Jill Dyche’s  blog on designing a competency center (Feb. 8, 2011 http://baseline-consulting.typepad.com/jilldyche/).  At home , my wife is currently exploring our many options for redesigning our front entry, and the current book I am reading is “The Design of Everyday Things” by  Don Norman (thanks to John Susag for the recommendation!).  So I opened myself up to the cosmos and wanted to kick off my blog with what I think is the underpinning issue in data warehousing – Are you designing your solution for end user ability or something else?

Editor’s note: Rob Armstrong is an employee of Teradata. Teradata is a sponsor of The Smart Data Collective.

By way of an introduction, this has been my life longer than it hasn’t been.  I used to joke that the longest relationship I had was with my pager (same pager number for 10 years!).  Through my 25 years at Teradata, I have been involved in coding database functionality, supporting systems from a deep technical nature, and then participated in the exciting, on-site world of implementing data warehouses in a variety of industries.  From IT to Business, and from worker to decision maker, I have learned a lot of lessons and look forward to sharing them with you and I trust I will also learn a thing or two from our discussions.

More Read

big data and accounting

Strategies to Make Better Profits for CPAs During Tax Season

What is Data Pipeline? A Detailed Explanation
Understanding ETL Tools as a Data-Centric Organization
What to Consider When Choosing a Masters in Business Analytics
Understanding the Tremendous Benefits of IoT for Small Businesses

So what is the point of exterior design?  One of the themes of the “everyday things” book is that many products are designed for the management and maintenance of the production processes rather than the usability and effectiveness of it to the ultimate user.  I will not spoil the book for you but it is an interesting read.  Too many data warehouse implementations are concerned with the process of collecting and managing the data.  Think of the infamous “batch window” where the database is taken away from the users for X hours to load detail data and then manage data summaries.  In today’s world it is hard to find implementers, let alone business users, that think that batch windows and regularly taking data systems down is an acceptable solution.

This idea goes into a lot of processes.  From the data collection and ETL efforts, to the data model and embedding the business rules into the metadata, and to the end user GUI and how user friendly and intuitive it is to ultimately allow the user to “self serve”.   If the design and implementation teams keep the end usage in mind then greater acceptance and productiveity will occur.

Now comes the dilemma, or what I like to term a “data warehouse paradox”.  How does one design for the business usage when the business usage constantly changes?  It is hard enough to get the business to define the initial data and usage, and yet to adequately design and implement the warehouse we need to have them define continuing usage over the years?  Good luck.

Fortunately there are some answers that will assist in overcoming this problem.  In the interest of  “blog time” I will explore each of the main ones over the next few postings.  The first answer is that regardless of what happens, the users will constantly want new and different analytics against basically the same data.

This is good as we know that if we have a substantive amount of data and we keep the data relationships intact in the model then any analytics can be run against the data.  If you start to enforce the usage and function in the data model then you are going to erect barriers to new analytics.  The design may be very easy to load and manage, and may be easy for the initial usage (after all it was designed for that) but it makes new requirements very hard to accommodate and usage will quickly die out.  What you are left with is a system that cost a lot but provides very little.

OK, let’s start with that.  The question of the week is how flexible is your underlying model?  Have you functionalized the model for “easy of use”?  How long does it take to accommodate new requests against the same data?  Do you need to constantly create new summaries and extracts to provide the next capability?  These answers will provide a good understanding if you had the “exterior design” in mind and if you are on the path to long term success.

 

Next blog I will continue the things that we can know about the business need that allows the IT groups to accelerate the path towards true self service.

Rob Armstrong March 29, 2011
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

big data and accounting
Business RulesData ManagementITSoftware

Strategies to Make Better Profits for CPAs During Tax Season

10 Min Read
What is Data Pipeline A detailed explaination
Big Data

What is Data Pipeline? A Detailed Explanation

8 Min Read
etl for data-driven businesses
Big Data

Understanding ETL Tools as a Data-Centric Organization

8 Min Read
Business,Analytics,(ba),Technology,Using,Big,Data,,Cloud,Computing,And
Analytics

What to Consider When Choosing a Masters in Business Analytics

15 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

AI and chatbots
Chatbots and SEO: How Can Chatbots Improve Your SEO Ranking?
Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Exclusive
AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?