TDWI | Training & Research | Business Intelligence, Analytics, Big Data, Data Warehousing

From the Editor

• By James E. Powell
• November 9, 2005

Nothing succeeds like success. Trouble is, what’s success? That’s the question several of our authors address in this issue.

Hugh J. Watson asks if the high failure rates quoted at conference lectures and in the literature are valid, and concludes that the answer depends on how you define failure. Mark Hwang and Hongjiang Xu tackle success head on with a survey of data warehousing professionals. As the authors note, without a good grasp of the core data warehousing success issues, spending more money may only lead to more expensive failures.

Authors Susan Foster, Paul Hawking, and Andrew Stein were also busy with a survey. Theirs looks at success from a different angle—they investigate the BI implementation patterns as Australian companies adopt BI solutions. Success in another realm— managed services—is the focus of our Experts’ Perspective column.

Your success in data warehousing will also depend on your ability to adapt to the changing technologies and trends in the industry. David Johnson points out several key developments—from the explosive growth of data to the promises of RFID—that affect the BI landscape.

Success and emerging technology is also the theme of our two case studies. Mathew Schwartz looks at how the state of Louisiana battles food stamp fraud by merging BI with geographic information system (GIS) software in a story he prepared before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. RFID-based reporting was the key to success for Graniterock, as Stephen Swoyer explains in our second case study.

In other articles in this issue, Glenn Peipert examines how real-time insight into business events—a holy grail for many organizations—can be aided by business activity monitoring (BAM). Data warehouses can accumulate and aggregate information, he notes, but it’s the BAM application that provides the real-time visibility and enables you to respond immediately.

Mark Van de Wiel explains how to manage large-scale BI solutions for success (think performance, scalability, and availability as three key factors), and we profile the winners of TDWI’s Best Practices Awards—another sure sign of achievement.

This article originally appeared in the issue of TDWI.