Warren teaches in the 3rd and 4th day. His style is a combination of casual jokes and data warehousing stories, which definitely helps when the subject is 'technical architecture'.
Our little group is turning into a mailing list for the whole class! A lot of people say that they would like to join the group.
2nd Day in class
2nd day was more in depth work with Dimensional Modeling. A lot of practical knowledge, case studies, and group discussions. It was also Margy last day and tomorrow would be Warren.
A few of us in class decide to form a study group. The group is for us to share news, articles, experience, and also just to keep in touch. The goal of the group is to continue our learning even after the class.
A few of us in class decide to form a study group. The group is for us to share news, articles, experience, and also just to keep in touch. The goal of the group is to continue our learning even after the class.
1st Day in Data Warehouse Lifecycle in Depth
My first day experience with Data Warehouse Lifecycle in Depth.
The instructor was Margy Ross who is one of the authors of the Data Warehouse Lifeycycle Toolkit. For the record, she signed my copy of the book :)
The first half of the day is about Project Management. I'm especially appreciative of this portion of the class. The main theme of Project Management is Business, Business, Business, and Business. What do "Customers" of the DW want? What do they want now? What can they possibly want in the future? I always knew that business requirements have to be a main driver of any DW project, but it’s nice to hear it articulated. After the class I immediately called up my PM, and let him know how much respect I have for him and his work. Thanks Dan :-)
The second part is Introduction to Dimensional Modeling. The concept is fairly simple, but it’s not jargonless. We also discussed some philosophical and historical debates of dimensional modeling and the bus architecture. Something nice to know if you're planning on going to a DW party (I'll be the first one there). My take on modeling is a lot like Shirky take on ontology. The modeler has to be good at mind reading and fortune telling, which Shirky argues is a hopeless fight if your source data is the internet. I hope that doesn't apply to enterprise data warehouses...
Since I already have experience in DW the first day was a lot of reviewing for me. The most valuable asset of the class is actually the students. I've met people from many industries, many parts of the country, and we're all here as students of Data Warehousing.
The instructor was Margy Ross who is one of the authors of the Data Warehouse Lifeycycle Toolkit. For the record, she signed my copy of the book :)
The first half of the day is about Project Management. I'm especially appreciative of this portion of the class. The main theme of Project Management is Business, Business, Business, and Business. What do "Customers" of the DW want? What do they want now? What can they possibly want in the future? I always knew that business requirements have to be a main driver of any DW project, but it’s nice to hear it articulated. After the class I immediately called up my PM, and let him know how much respect I have for him and his work. Thanks Dan :-)
The second part is Introduction to Dimensional Modeling. The concept is fairly simple, but it’s not jargonless. We also discussed some philosophical and historical debates of dimensional modeling and the bus architecture. Something nice to know if you're planning on going to a DW party (I'll be the first one there). My take on modeling is a lot like Shirky take on ontology. The modeler has to be good at mind reading and fortune telling, which Shirky argues is a hopeless fight if your source data is the internet. I hope that doesn't apply to enterprise data warehouses...
Since I already have experience in DW the first day was a lot of reviewing for me. The most valuable asset of the class is actually the students. I've met people from many industries, many parts of the country, and we're all here as students of Data Warehousing.
Internet as a Platform
Your Next Computer - Next Frontiers - MSNBC.com: "unlike the Internet, the phone world has no open and single set of protocols for programmers to build around. Software written for one kind of phone won't work on all the others. The uncoordinated, noncommercial programming that led to the quick evolution of the Internet hasn't taken hold in the world of mobile phones."
Likewise, if Service Oriented Architecture, Network Computering, or Internet as a Platform is going to happen we need standards. We have SOAP or REST for protocol today, but we need standards for the actual programming API. Today. an application written for Google Maps is incompatible with Yahoo Maps. We need what Operating Systems to hardware drivers for Web Services.
Assuming no single company gains monopoly on the "Internet Platform", I imagine in the future each user would supply a profile of preferred platform services and each application would adjust automatically for the user. For example, my profile might say that I prefer Google Maps, Amazon Book Search, and Yahoo Search as my platform providers, whereas somebody might prefer Yahoo Maps, Ebay Book Search, and A9 Search. The benefit is of course, if I'm a premium paying customer of a particular mapping service I would benefit from a richer experience in ALL web applications.
This might not seem like a serious problem today because most services are largely identical, but as companies provide more premium services or specialized services people would want to take their subscriptions with them to other sites/applications. RSS and Atom feeds have done this nicely for data streams. I can take my feeds to any feed reader I want. A9 has proposed Open Search for search, which is one step closer.
Likewise, if Service Oriented Architecture, Network Computering, or Internet as a Platform is going to happen we need standards. We have SOAP or REST for protocol today, but we need standards for the actual programming API. Today. an application written for Google Maps is incompatible with Yahoo Maps. We need what Operating Systems to hardware drivers for Web Services.
Assuming no single company gains monopoly on the "Internet Platform", I imagine in the future each user would supply a profile of preferred platform services and each application would adjust automatically for the user. For example, my profile might say that I prefer Google Maps, Amazon Book Search, and Yahoo Search as my platform providers, whereas somebody might prefer Yahoo Maps, Ebay Book Search, and A9 Search. The benefit is of course, if I'm a premium paying customer of a particular mapping service I would benefit from a richer experience in ALL web applications.
This might not seem like a serious problem today because most services are largely identical, but as companies provide more premium services or specialized services people would want to take their subscriptions with them to other sites/applications. RSS and Atom feeds have done this nicely for data streams. I can take my feeds to any feed reader I want. A9 has proposed Open Search for search, which is one step closer.
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