January 12, 2022
For 26 years, TDWI’s Business Intelligence Journal has brought you a wide variety of thought-provoking articles that have helped you navigate the ever-changing world of business analytics. Sadly, you are reading the last issue. TDWI readers have shown a preference for shorter articles or longer research; the Business Intelligence Journal has been somewhere in the middle.
Some of the issues we’ve tackled since the beginning of our industry—and the Journal— still trouble us today. Take our lead story, “The Myths and Reality of the Single Source of Truth.” Remember when one of the original promises of a data warehouse was to provide that SSOT? In all this time, the SSOT has grown even more complex with multiple sources of data unimaginable when we published our first issue. Piyanka Jain takes aim at four myths that persist about the SSOT and offers a three-step plan to effectively create one.
Also changing over the years has been the nature of data and its use. From the first mention of GDPR to the rise in data security breaches, governance has taken center stage, especially in the minds of the consumers and customers whose data you’re working with. In fact, governance has become somewhat of a dirty word—being more about roadblocks than corporate benefit. Bill O’Kane explores the changing nature of governance through the years and proposes a graduated approach to data governance based on four broad categories of data to achieve maximum effect with minimal invasiveness.
Long-time friend of the Journal is Hugh Watson, who over the years has graced us with some of the most forward-thinking best practices you’ll read anywhere. He’s also the man behind the intriguing questions we’ve posed in our Experts’ Perspective column. In his final column for the Journal, Hugh joins Eric Rivard to explore a fundamental process: the analytics life cycle. As organizations’ analytics mature and grow more sophisticated, the successful execution of the life cycle becomes more challenging. After all, everything is growing: the volume and velocity of data, the number of models developed and supported, the number and skill mix of people. With so much going on, Watson and Rivard also note how the need for defined processes and coordination becomes critical. They’ll reveal problems of the analytics life cycle as well as what works to help you see how to apply best practices in your own organizations.
Rounding out this issue, Fern Halper, TDWI VP and senior director of research, looks at what’s important to data managers in their moves to the cloud.
It’s been a pleasure to offer you so many diverse points of view on a myriad of BI topics. Thank you for your support and feedback. Keep in mind there’s a myriad of research, best practices, and thoughtful commentary on our main site: tdwi.org.