Customer Reviews
Practical Wisdom
There are a lot of data warehousing books out there that try to answer the question: 'Why'? Why data warehouses are needed to help businesses make better decisions - why the OLTP systems that run the business can't do this - and sometimes even why businesses ought to invest in data warehouses. These books were terrifically useful to us years ago, when we needed help (and scholarly footnotes) in our data warehouse project proposals.
This book is not one of those - it is all about: 'How'.
How to actually design and build a repository that will deliver real value to real people. In this reviewer's opinion, Ralph Kimball's many contributions related to the 'how' of data warehousing stand alone.
An engineer trying to just-start data warehouse expertise would have to read Ralph's Data Warehouse Toolkit first edition, his Data Webhouse Toolkit... a bunch of Intelligence Enterprise magazine articles... AND lurk on the Data Warehousing List Server...for a few years (all terrific resources - by the way) - in order to stockpile the knowledge that is crisply presented here.
No shortcuts that I can spot: all of the toughest dimensional design issues that I've tripped on - and can remember surfacing on in discussion groups over the past few years - are addressed in this significantly updated text. Not all of the solutions are 'pretty' - but it is clear that they thoughtfully address the problem. This rings true to my God-given 'bs' detector.
The authors have been listening to and addressing the data warehouse community's 'pain' through periodicals and posts - but this book pulls these point solutions together very nicely. I learned a surprising number of really useful new techniques, and was genuinely enlightened by the 'Present Imperatives and Future Outlook' section.
As in the first edition, there is minimal philosophical lecturing, and zero religion - perhaps the only reason to hesitate in describing it as the 'bible' of dimensional data warehousing. Authors of 'bibles' sometimes appear to be handcuffed by their need to be perceived as infallible - such is not the case here. Instead, we get generous helpings of real-world case studies - aptly used to illustrate a progressively more advanced series of design concepts.
This style absolutely works for me. And I suspect that engineering mindsets typical of the folks that build these things will surely agree.
In short, the Data Warehouse Toolkit Second Edition will significantly lighten the load of books that I carry between data warehouse engagements...
Top-notch course in dimensional data warehouses
If you want to understand data warehouse design either as user, architect or developer, you need to read this book cover to cover.
Things I like about this book:
* Coverage of all core principles in dimensional data modeling using examples. Ralph does not just lecture to you -- he shows you how to put it into practice
* Coverage of a vast variety of domains. This alone makes the book a must-read
* Recap of major principles at the end of the book to bring it all together
* Excellent writing -- Ralph does not treat you like a dummy; neither does he assume that you have an IQ north of 200
* When you purchase this book, you are in effect purchasing a sliver of the combined knowledge of both authors in the data warehousing field. Highly recommended
I implemented a data warehouse using some of these principles back in 1999. The project was a resounding success and is the most popular application in the financial services firm that I implemented it in. (Infact when I lost my job at an Internet company, they immediately offered me a job based on this implementation). The only sad part to the whole story is that we made a few mistakes in implementation that are now very difficult to correct because the data warehouse has become core to the business -- we have too many end-user applications riding on it!
If you dont have it you ain't a Datawarehouse developer
The mandatory bible for any datawarehouse developer. Complete with examples and case studies, it will satisfy beginners as well as experienced professionals. I began with this.. and havent finished using it yet!
