Posted by arlene

Consensus about the Mission

The mission of the data warehouse is more than just focusing on various points of functionality; it’s basically the answer to the question, “Why bother creating the data warehouse?”

The mission must have universal consensus among your organization’s business community (or as close to it as possible). Without it, organizational politics usually overcome any progress you make down the development road, and your data warehousing project gets pulled into a quagmire that looks like something from a prime-time network soap opera.

Risk Assessment and a Plan to Manage Risk

Suppose that you’ve spent two or three weeks (or however long the project scope is) discussing and picking apart functionality and the data necessary to support it. You’ve discussed data sources and have heard a little about the level of difficulty in extracting information from each one. You’ve listened to team members and now have a good idea about their respective positions, agendas, and other attributes. Now you have an idea about what will occur during the design phase.

So how risky is this project? You have to catalog all these tangible and intangible factors, look at their potential effect, and then identify ways to manage and control any risk that exists.

Then you’re ready to proceed.

A Gap Analysis

So what’s missing? What data sources have you identified even though you weren’t able to find anyone who knows anything about them? What organization’s scheduling conflicts kept its members from participating in the scope phase (but you were directed to proceed anyway)? Are you uncertain whether their business requirements have been handled adequately? What data has been identified as absolutely critical for the data warehouse but apparently isn’t stored anywhere in the enterprise?

These and other missing elements must be collected and reported as a gap analysis along with a plan to handle these issues.

Tentative Executive-Level Support

The executive sponsor from the business side (the person controlling the funding who represents the data warehousing project to the company’s executive board) must be “onboard” with what’s going on with the project. This statement is true for not just the upcoming design phase but also for the entire project.

You should try to have a conversation in which the executive sponsor makes a commitment to you that unless something out of the ordinary occurs, the project will be supported to its completion. This conversation should take place near the end of the project scope phase, when you have tangible results to indicate the project’s viability.

Logistical Requirements and Support Plans

Few things are more frustrating in a development effort of any kind as entering a phase of activity in which you need office space, computers, software, and other support tools. The worst part is when you not only don’t have them but also don’t know when, or whether, you ever will.

Use the time during the scope phase to line up everything you need. You don’t want the design-phase clock to start ticking without having everything you need in place or a guarantee that everything will be in place when you need it.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Data Project Plan Note part 2

• Data Project Plan Note part 1
• Data Processing Project, how to successfully manage
• Communicating with Graphic Designers
• Communicating with Users
• Combating Opinion with Evidence
• Professional Video Design and Presentation
• Distinguishing Between Subjective and Objective Issues: What Exactly Does a Picture Paint?
• What Can Our Systems Do?
• Database Warehousing Skills
• Oft-forgotten Data Disaster Recovery