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Chu, a project management consultant, presents a practical approach for storing and managing information for efficient access by all of an organization's employees. She explains how raw data becomes the information that can drive organizational strategy, clears up common misconceptions about data warehousing, and shows how to prevent the obstacles that result in long-term problems and short-sighted solutions. She outlines key project management principles that apply in data management environments, and provides two case studies of successful and unsuccessful data management. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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Blissful Data Wisdom and Strategies for Providing Meaningful, Useful, and Accessible Data for All Employees MARGARET Y. CHU American Management Association · · · · · · New York Atlanta Brussels Chicago Mexico City San Francisco Shanghai Tokyo Toronto Washington, D. C. · · Special discounts on bulk quantities of AMACOM books are available to corporations, professional associations, and other organizations. For details, contact Special Sales Department, AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Tel.: 212-903-8316. Fax: 212-903-8083. Web site: www.amacombooks.org This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chu, Margaret Y. Blissful data : wisdom and strategies for providing meaningful, useful, and accessible data for all employees / Margaret Y. Chu. p. cm. ISBN 0-8144-0780-3 1. Decision making—Data processing. 2. Management—Data processing. I. Title. HD30.23.C4739 2003 658.4′038—dc21 2003012530 © 2004 Margaret Y. Chu Illustrations © 2004 by Rita Asia Lee All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Printing number 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To family, friends, and associates. You provided the inspiration and material that made this book possible. Contents Preface vii Introduction ix 1 What Is a Data Warehouse? Why Should You Care? 2 Data Warehouses, Data Marts What’s in a Name? 25 3 Myths and Misconceptions What Should You Eradicate? 47 4 What Are Dirty Data? Where Do Dirty Data Come From? 69 5 Politics Who Owns It Anyway? 93 6 Politics Who’s Going to Pay? 116 7 Project Management Is It the Silver Bullet? 152 8 Data Modeling Why Model the Data? 186 9 Case Studies Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel? 210 229 Glossary References 237 Index 239 About the Author 1 245 v Preface As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits. Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were going to St. Ives? A s a child, I longed to have a kitten. I used to daydream that I was the per- son in the riddle and could go to St. Ives and meet this man with seven wives, three