Agile Data Warehouse Design: Collaborative Dimensional Modeling, from Whiteboard to Star Schema

When it comes to dimensional modeling and related data warehouse and business intelligence (DW/BI) topics, until now the "Big Two" authors who provide truly useful books are Ralph Kimball (along with his Kimball Group colleagues) and Christopher Adamson. With the publication of Agile Data Warehouse Design: Collaborative Dimensional Modeling, from Whiteboard to Star Schema (ADWD), Lawrence Corr (along with his co-author Jim Stagnitto) contributes critical new information and techniques to the field - and we now have the "Big Three" dimensional design authors. Why are these my "Big Three" BI/DW authors, and why does Lawrence Corr deserve to join the list? The numerous Kimball Group books and the three Adamson books all provide a useful blend of theoretical and practical information and techniques to guide the DW/BI professional in creating systems that are affordable, maintainable, accurate, and useful to clients. In his new book, Corr fills in a critical missing component: how to effectively engage business and technical personnel in a dialogue to perform agile design where the emphasis is on content, understandability, rigor, and usefulness, instead of on producing reams of documentation. In short, this book is about agile dimensional design including "why" and the all-important "how to" with supporting templates. Though many of the book's topics are previously addressed by other authors, Corr expands upon these and presents a large set of fresh ideas and techniques that are robust and adaptable, while incorporating the concepts of the Agile Manifesto. He provides an emphasis on collaboration and flexibility, not just on theoretic agility, while adapting a method called BEAM* (Business Event Analysis & Modeling) for dimensional design. BEAM* is an agile modeling method that lends itself to rapid, collaborative dimensional design sessions with business and technical participants. BEAM* utilizes a set of diagram types that, taken together, provide a complete design that is understandable by business people and is immediately useful for implementation people. The diagram types are: 1. Example Data Table (or BEAM* Table) - Primary diagram type used to capture data stories and describe data requirements through sample data. Supports modeling by example rather than by abstraction, making them useful to all participants in the design activities. Uses sets of short codes to capture and indicate design details. 2. Hierarchy Chart - Shows hierarchical relationships among related entities within a dimension. This is a much cleaner and more concise version of the traditional dimensional hierarchy chart. 3. Timeline - Concisely captures sequences and durations as an aid to understanding and design. 4. Event Matrix - A fresh twist on the classic fact/dimension matrix, with better organization, which provides an accessible overview of multiple star data mart and data warehouse designs. 5. Enhanced Star Schema - Traditional star schema diagrams augmented with BEAM* codes to indicate dimensional design aspects that are not supported by traditional modeling tools. These "tools" facilitate design discussions, detailed design work, communication, implementation, and provide concise yet through documentation. In addition to the methodology and diagram types, extensive coverage of the design process and the designs themselves are covered. All of the dimensional modeling basics receive thorough treatment and many of the more challenging dimensional modeling problems receive substantial coverage with mature techniques and solutions drawn from Corr and Stagnitto's extensive consulting work. Examples include several types of hierarchies and hierarchy maps, multiple calendars, time (clock time), and the always exciting Customer and Employee dimensions, among many other design challenges. Agile Data Warehouse Design is an eminently useful book and a long-needed complement to the dimensional modeling literature.

As system architect in DW/BI environnements, I would say this guide offers a very structured methodology to requirements gathering in DW/BI context and dimensional modeling. I strongly recommend this guide to all BI stakeholders who are looking for a pragmatic approach to dimensional modeling and useful modeling tools ! Excellent and perfect guide in terms of both content and form ! Thank you to authors

Dry, it's a very dry book. If you're after excitement ... you won't be finding it here.

This book is a must for all Business Intelligence professionals which want use collaborative modeling on your projects.

Meet my expectations