USERS SEEK TO MAXIMIZE DW POWER, MINIMIZE PROBLEMS

Stewart Deck has reported in ComputerWorld that although many vendors may be preoccupied with Microsoft Corp.'s entry into data warehousing via the arrival of SQL Server 7, users attending the recent Data Warehousing Institute's Leadership conference in Orlando, Fla., were more focused on their own projects and problems. Specifically, meta-data management, data mining techniques, warehouse development strategies and warehouse Web interfaces are key issues that people were asking and learning about.

How-to sessions are always well-attended at such conferences because of the "unacceptably high failure rate of data warehouse projects," Robert Craig, an analyst at Hurwitz Group Inc., a Framingham, Mass.-based consultancy told Deck. "Many people want to find out how to fix what they have and get some usefulness out of their investments."

George Trudel, a business and technology consultant at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Rhode Island in Providence, said he's always interested in learning more about data modeling strategies and mining and intelligence tools for the same reason -- to get better results from his warehouse. "I'm looking at what I can do or use to streamline the process of getting more useful data," Trudel said.

Deck noted that meta data -- the summary information about what data is in the warehouse -- is a hot topic. "Meta data is like the oil for an engine. You can forget about it for a little while, but without comprehensive, synchronized meta data, your warehouse will die," said Wayne Eckerson, vice president of technology services at the Data Warehousing Institute.

Users are starting to recognize that the combination of meta data and modeling will let them understand more about how each of their systems fits together with the goal of making a connected enterprise, Craig said.

Meta data is a hot topic right now because more and more long-term business decisions are being made on the basis of data warehouse data, said Michael Abbey, president of Michael Abbey Systems International Inc., an independent consultancy based in Ottawa.

"People analyzing this data have to be intimately familiar with what the data means and how it can be applied. And meta data is key to this intimate understanding," Abbey said.

Deck commented that the finalists selected by conference organizers as Pioneering Products of 1998 also show how much attention is being paid to meta data. Tools for meta-data management and administration captured three of the six finalist spots.

Plenty of products also have come out recently that help users populate their data warehouses with enterprise resource planning (ERP) system information. "We are certainly looking into this, but haven't come to any decisions yet," Trudel said.

"Most ERP vendors are way behind in providing these tools themselves," Craig said, so users are turning to independent toolmakers to ease the process.

Warehouse administrators also are finding Web interfaces to be a dream come true. "With a Web interface, we can give more users access to data with next to no maintenance or administrative costs," said Larry Costello, director of financial information systems at Textron Inc., a $9.5 billion multi-industry company based in Providence. "We had tried a client/server front end, but it was a bear to maintain and required lots of redesign any time we simply realigned a division." That's why Costello said he is looking for Web-based access tools.