  Subject: RE: dwlist: Data warehousing and MBA Hi Tony, My thoughts are imbedded in the email Hi all, 1) My professor told me that data warehousing will have an even bigger impact than the internet did in the years to come - meaning it will completely change the world as we know of it. I believed him when he said it, and I would like to believe that now. What do you guys think?
>>> I like your professors optimism but I donÂt see this happening any time soon. >>>When Âthe webÂ happened and brio launched the Âweb warehouseÂ with the slogan Âwhere the warehouse meets the webÂ (circa 1996) I was one person who confidently predicted this will bring together the two most powerful forces in IT and drive a revolution in Sales and Marketing, Business Management and Business Development. >>>However, just like we did with relational databases in the late 80s and early 90s (as described by Ralph so eloquently in the first edition of his book) we have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Instead of making the right data readily available to the people who really need it with tools they can really use to do what could make a really big difference to the business we gave everyone a pretty dumb browser interface and we gave lots of people access to data that they have barely any earthly use for other than to fill up their 8 hour working day fiddling around with it. Oh, but these dumb web interfaces have nice pretty charts and buttons and things and that makes all the differenceÂ..hhhmmmmm.
>>> The definition of a data warehouse included Âto support the management decision making processÂ and especially in these days of post latest recession downsizing the number of managers to ÂstaffÂ is smaller than it has ever been. As far as I am aware no-one of any reputation has expanded the definition of a DW to include Âto provide reports to anyone who wants one regardless of whether it will make any difference to the business.Â But that is what the vendors like to sell because it makes the most money and plenty of businesses have bought it. >>> Having said that, I still believe the use and the impact of the DW is still in itÂs infancy. I also believe the factors holding back the use of information inside organisations for the organisation benefit are political and not technical. Middle managers really donÂt want senior managers to see the real numbers. And in many countries the senior managers donÂt want to see the real numbers either so they have Âplausible deniabilityÂ on their side.
And when some analyst comes up with a great idea and it makes millions of dollars it is pretty common for his/her colleagues to then Âmake life difficultÂ for the Âstar performerÂ. 2) I read an interview done by some online magazine with Google's Larry Page. In it, Larry shares his vision for his search engine being able to answer any question in the world. I couldn't stop to wonder what the future of data warehousing would be. Isn't the ultimate purpose of data warehousing also similar - to answer how to do anything in the world most effectively? If so, maybe we can see some merging of technologies in search and data warehousing technologies?
Am I completely off base? >>> No. The purpose of the DW is defined to be Âto support the management decision making processÂ. Sure, you might want to expand on that definition for your particular DW. However, in any organisation, there is only a very limited set of decisions to be made which drives only a very small number of ÂquestionsÂ compared to the set of Âall questions that could be askedÂ. If a DW project concentrates on Âthe set if possible questions that will make a major difference to the organisationÂ and collects the data for that rather than Âany possible questionÂ and collects the data for that, the project is far more likely to be successful. >> Feel free to read about this here: http://www.intelligententerprise.com/010507/webhouse1_1.shtml >> The dimensional model is a great way to highly focus the DW effort since the ÂfactsÂ that can be used to answer a question must be in a fact table. In the early days we could put a large amount of the transactions of an organisation and put them into fact tables and this gave us a great resource to focus our questions around.
3) I've been in the IT industry for the past 5 years, and I feel like in order to get to the next level, I really need to get into the business side of things. And I thought one of the best ways to do it is to go get an MBA from one of the top schools in the states. However, I also want to continue doing data warehousing, and try to be a data warehouse expert and this makes me think that an expensive MBA may not be all that helpful. But I am not sure which path to choose. I guess knowing where data warehousing will be in the next 10-20 years from now, and what big role I can play in data warehousing will be helpful.
>>> No-one knows where data warehousing will be in 10-20 years. One thing is for sure. The world will look more different in 20 years than it does now from 20 years ago. And that is Âvery differentÂ. I would not make any choice or decision on what to do in IT with a more than 2 year time horizon at the moment. Microsoft and Sun have Âkissed and made upÂ who knows whatÂs going to happen next!!!??? >>> My personal opinion is that MBAs are not worth that much. Indeed, I believe most tertiary education pales by comparison to experience in the Âreal worldÂ.
Sure, you have to have the piece of paper to Âget in the doorÂ. But many companies nowadays want Âsecretaries with degreesÂ.. (Why?? ) I have always believed that if you put your hand up to take on the most difficult tasks at work and can make them successful you are likely to learn more. The trick being get 10 years experience, not 1 years experience 10 times over. >>> Mind you, being highly successful in the roles you perform does not mean you will get paid more or be more ÂsuccessfulÂ. In many cases the Âmost successfulÂ person is Âfirst against the wall after the revolutionÂ. Just remember, life is not fair, and I am very pleased that it is notÂ ;-) Thanks! Tony Lew Best Regards Â Peter Nolan Data Warehousing Consultant Mobile: +353 879 581 732 Homepage: http://www.peternolan.com 
