Get to know some of our talented authors featured in our author spotlights. You can see interviews, detailed biographies, and book summaries of some of the best in the industry.
WILLIAM: I’m currently President of McKnight Associates, Inc.. We are a service provider in the e-BI space which involves using data warehousing, customer relationship management and e-commerce for business intelligence. We have clients in numerous industries and I spend much of my time with our clients working on strategy, architecture and program management. Otherwise, I speak at about 20 conferences a year, many with the Data Warehousing Institute. I have a column in Data Management Review where I share some of our experiences. My background spans software development, training, consulting, and managerial and executive positions in IT organizations.
WILLIAM: I especially enjoyed organizing the data warehouse space into 80 questions across numerous categories. Data warehousing is a very expansive space and striking a good balance between project, managerial, architecture, transformation, access, modeling, tools, database and performance management issues was tricky, but fun. In the end, I feel the final product strikes a good balance of questions for what I would look for in someone claiming data warehousing expertise.
WILLIAM: Keeping up in this industry is a process and it needs to be part and parcel of a professional career. I read profusely, attend lectures and seminars whenever I get the chance, and explore the web – vendor pages, newsgroups, etc. on a regular, systemic basis. However, nothing allows one to keep up like actual experiences. Our clients have lofty goals for their systems and their business. Constantly crafting appropriate solutions for them is my best way to “keep up.”
WILLIAM: The Reviewnet test is based on our experiences in data warehousing hiring and managerial positions. As a former Director and VP of IT at large shops, the questions represent many of the questions I knew to ask based on experience plus “things I had wished I asked” of my data warehousing hires. Anybody playing even a “medium” role on a data warehouse program needs to have good knowledge of the data warehousing paradigm. This test is designed to cover the paradigm and is applicable for all positions on a data warehouse program.
WILLIAM: My best advice for someone interested in learning about data warehousing is to get involved in a project. If that is your goal but not a reality now, reading and studying the success stories, vendor information, books and the web is recommended. The Data Warehousing Institute has an excellent 2-day Fundamentals course. Craft a proposal for your company and maybe you can become the data warehouse champion at your site. I have seen data warehousing solve a myriad of business problems across numerous business areas. If a program is non-existent or languishing, perhaps your self-study and fresh approach will aid it. One other thing – if you’ve performed a function (modeling, DBA, architecture, etc.), but not in a data warehouse environment, don’t assume it’s the same as what you’ve been doing.
WILLIAM: The future of data warehousing is multi-faceted. There is a lot of blurring today with CRM, ERP and E-commerce initiatives. Data warehousing is really becoming the method for storing analytic-capable data for all these applications and more, many of which are packaged. Architectures will need to be more tightly integrated.
E-commerce is cranking up data volumes. Latency need and batch windows are shrinking but high levels of data quality will still be required. Tools will share metadata based on XML and there will be consolidation among vendors who will increasingly offer integrated solutions.
WILLIAM: This test is designed like our warehouses – to provide the user positive ROI. Large studies have shown that experienced personnel is the top 1 or 2 key to success for data warehousing. Data warehousing experience shows up on many resumes, but has it been practical, integral and supported by knowledge? That is what our test was designed to flesh out. Data warehousing is in its early majority of market acceptance and there are several areas of “best practice.” A hiring company should be aware of any gaps in a candidate’s knowledge so it can begin closing those gaps before the project suffers.
www.mcknight-associates.com
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