der, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-5777370-9, $50
Just when you thought you were safe from viruses, hackers, and the year 2000 crisis, another computer disaster has popped up to menace your organization: data disparity. It stands between you and the rapid, effective, and profitable use of your data. What's worse, you might not even know that you suffer from it.
If you don't have a cohesive, organized collection of data from which you can retrieve current, accurate, and integrated information, you can't support the operation
of your business or organization. Disparate data won't let you draw conclusions from different sets of data. Also, it won't accommodate a dynamic business environment. And it won't let you plan for the future.
Teaching you to recognize and manage this latest crisis is the goal of
The Data Warehouse Challenge: Taming Data Chaos
by Michael Brackett and
Data Warehouse: Practical Advice from the Experts
by Joyce Bischoff and Ted Alexander. Both books extol the virtues of the data warehouse -- a single integrated data resource that supports your organization's business needs. The two books approach the topic of data warehousing from different angles, but both purport to save you from the pitfalls of being data-rich and information-poor.
In
The Data Warehouse Challenge
, Brackett provides a 579-page comprehensive and understandable guide for planning, designing, and implementing an operational data warehouse. He explains the dilemma of disparate data and points to the business
data cycle that creates and perpetuates the problem. He addresses data architecture, taxonomy, and quality, culminating in guidelines for creation of the metadata that powers the data warehouse.
In simple, logical steps, Brackett guides you through the construction of a stable, integrated data resource that will survive and support changing hardware, system software, applications, and business activities. Other topics covered include cleansing, transforming, and distributing data.
Brackett employs copious examples, figures, and boxed notes. As he introduces each new topic, definition, or key design point, he reinforces it with a practical example. Each of the 15 chapters ends with a comprehensive summary and a list of review questions, making the book valuable for initial implementation and ongoing reference.
Divided into six parts,
Data Warehouse: Practical Advice from the Experts
discusses the major phases of a data-warehouse project. It comprises 28 essays by 20 well-credentiale
d authors, each of whom bring their own experience, style, and perspective to bear on the topic of data warehousing. But while this approach provides a fascinating depth of opinion and scope of experience, it also robs the book of coherency.
Evaluated individually, several of the essays are exceptional. "Real-World Data Warehousing: The Management Challenge" by Howard Fosdick, for example, delves into the reasons why data-warehouse projects fail and how information-technology management can recognize and head off these problems. "Data Quality" by Sid Adelman stands out as well for its point-by-point evaluation of data quality, its impact on practical systems, and its cost.
Overall, this book makes clear the authors' belief in data-warehousing technology, but, despite its title, the book is somewhat light on practical advice for those new to the topic. Newcomers to the topic would be better served by Brackett's book.
Rob Hummel is a frequent contributor to BYTE. He can be reached a
t
rhummel@cheshire.net
.
Book Review: Buried in Data
