Dr. Ralph Kimball, Rock Star

I was fortunate enough to receive an invite from Informatica to attend a sminar in Atlanta by Ralph Kimball titled Data Warehousing:
Best Practices in Today's IT Environment. The event was packed and I was looking forward to it as a great intro for a new sales woman that is working with my company.

It was a good seminar heavy on the basics of data warehousing, including dimension design and what-is-a-fact kind of information. Dr. Kimball stressed that executing the basics correctly is the foundation for any successful implementation. He also had a few general points to always keep in mind. Among them:

• Start with what the end user wants or needs to see, ie the front end. Work backwards from the reports, graphs, or pie charts they want to see.
  
• Everything distills into 3 kinds of grains: transactions, periodic snapshots, and accumulating snapshots. Don't try to do anything fancier.
  
• Don't start by trying to identify Facts. Know the process, grain level, and deimensions first, then get the fact.
  

It's good to get a reminder of these things, as it's easy to get lost in all the necessary but distracting detail of data warehouse architecture. Too often people can lose sight of the value that was promised to the end users before the project (or the current upgrade) began. It was definitely a treat getting to see Ralph Kimball in person, and if you ever get the cahnce don't miss it.