It’s Good to Have High Standards!

It’s Good to Have High Standards!

More than occasionally, I work in data warehouse environments where there have been very loose standards when it comes to creating physical data models. One example of this is delivering dimensions and facts without surrogate keys, and delivering...
High Impact Analytics Done Well.

High Impact Analytics Done Well.

Here is a framework and an approach centered on a different approach to defining requirements that works.  Most importantly, a successful analytics project is a partnership. The business users should want to help IT create an effective and robust solution and  IT...

The #1 Problem I see: Data Modeling

I have worked as a hands-on consultant, data architect, data engineer and analytics solution architect for more than 25 years, and the problem I see more than any other is data modeling. This problem is significant because it creates difficulty throughout the solution...

Integers Still Rule

Integers still rule. There is a little debate or controversy regarding the right approach for assigning surrogate keys, assuming, of course you’re not mired in the debate whether or not to create data models in the first place. I guess if you aren’t creating data...