Letter from the Editorial Director
TDWI is very pleased to bring you Volume 19 of our What Works: Best Practices in Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing series, an outstanding collection of best practices in our industry. The publication you are holding contains a snapshot of some of the best and most innovative business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing teams and implementations in the world today.
A decade ago TDWI was formed to provide data warehousing professionals a single source of information to help them do their jobs more effectively and to stay current with the rapidly developing industry in which they worked. Over the years, this has evolved to include BI and business professionals, changing the focus and content of the types of articles that you now see in What Works. In addition to celebrating the 10-year anniversary of publications like What Works, TDWI now delivers education and research online, onsite, and through more than 20 events worldwide.
Even after 10 years of experience and practical education, we at TDWI are still observing IT and business professionals who are stretching beyond their realms of expertise to learn new techniques and skills in order to meet the needs of their companies. This is often a challenging task; however, companies depend on their teams and individuals to build better, more competitive businesses, based on the knowledge they can obtain through innovative BI and data warehousing systems, training, and IT resources like What Works. In this publication you will find valuable case studies featuring the accomplishments of teams that have risen to this challenge.
In addition to these case studies and to our insightful Q&A section, What Works includes articles from leading experts in the services, software, and hardware vendor community in what we call “Lessons from the Experts.” These experts share technology perspectives and some of their convictions about what it takes to build a successful BI and data warehouse environment. While the articles vary in style and topic, all contribute significantly to the knowledge base needed to implement your business information strategy.
You will also find a timely article by Wayne Eckerson, TDWI’s director of research, entitled “Next-Generation Business Intelligence,” along with excerpts from two of TDWI’s recent research reports: Developing a BI Strategy for CRM/ERP Data and Development Techniques for Creating Analytic Applications. Both reports provide definitions and frameworks for understanding these emerging technologies, as well as survey results that examine the current state of the market.
TDWI strives to provide our readership with information that is educational, enlightening, and pertinent. We will continue to publish this thought-provoking collection of case studies and “Lessons” articles, and we look forward to your comments. If there is anything we can do to make this publication more valuable to you, please let me know. I would personally like to thank the companies who shared their stories and successes, along with the sponsoring vendors who are willing to share their technology insights and the lessons they have learned.
Please enjoy What Works, Volume 19.
Denelle Hanlon
Editorial Director, What Works
TDWI
[email protected]