Data Warehousing Design

Data warehousing design can prove to be a difficult challenge to any business that wishes to utilize the decision support system. Data warehousing design should be handled with extreme care and by the proper staff. The last thing any user would want is to see that all their efforts and hard work go to waste simply because the data warehousing design was poor and built to fail. There is however a number of things that can and should be done and considered in the data warehousing design process. The various precautions one should take in the data warehousing design stage can vary in degrees of difficulties. Often times the challenges one is faced with in data warehousing design process can be simple and quick, while others may require more time and effort to fully meet any overcome any potential data warehousing design challenges.

Data warehousing design in its infancy

Before anything else can be done in the data warehousing design process the users must first establish what they intend to use the decision support system for. This stage in the data warehousing design process can be fairly easy to most. It consists of identifying what problem or issue the user intends to tackle with the use of data warehousing. A business may have a certain issue and they must absolutely decide if data warehousing can assist them in that certain issue. If it is decided that data warehousing is right for them then they need to set up their objectives and goals for the system.

Determining the cost and time of data warehousing design

Once the potential user determines that data warehousing is the proper tool for their needs and their goals and objectives are defined, then they need to determine how much time and money will be invested into the system. This is actually a more difficult stage in the data warehousing design process because anything can go wrong in the data warehousing process. One should also take into consideration that data warehousing design project does not have an immediate end. In fact data warehousing is a long and resource consuming process with virtually no end. Potential users need to accept the cost and time needed in the data warehousing design process.

Data warehousing design and outsourcing

Something users should consider during the data warehousing design process is whether or not they should outsource some or all of the project. It is recommended that at least some or most of the project remain in house in order to ensure that maintenance and upkeep of the system are available quickly. The challenge with in house data warehousing design and development vs. outsourcing is one of cost vs. response times since outsourcing is often a slower data warehousing design and development process.

Implementing the data warehousing design project

Once all of the precautions of the data warehousing design project have been considered then the data warehousing project itself can begin. Implementing the data warehousing design project comes with its own set of precautions and recommendations. Users have to understand that the data warehousing design process is the foundation for the entire system and implementation and realization of the data warehouse will come with its own set of challenges.