Business Dimensional Modeling with Laura Reeves

copyright ©2011 Balanced Insight Inc.

Build BI Apps Users Will Love With Business Dimensional Modeling

Featuring Laura Reeves

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Industry thought leader and educator

Pioneered Business Dimensional Modeling

Architected and developed over 300 data warehouses / BI solutions for over 100 clients

Principal of StarSoft Solutions Inc., a consulting services firm focused on planning and designing high value, high performance Data Warehouse (DW) and BI Systems

Author of A Manager’s Guide to Data Warehousing and co-author of the first edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit

Teaches internationally on dimensional modeling and managing the Data Warehouse Lifecycle

Laura Reeves

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• The BI Journey…where has it taken us so far

• WHY and HOW you want to use BDM and project automation as part of your delivery process

• How companies are applying it to make project success rates soar

• And we will end with some specific how-to’s so you can begin applying these principles in your company – IMMEDIATELY.

Today’s Agenda

copyright ©2011 Balanced Insight Inc. 4

?BUSINESSINTELLIGENCE

what is

Now 20 Years Later…


“Business intelligence, or BI, is a variety of software applications used to analyze an organization’s raw data. Companies use BI to improve decision making, cut costs and identify new business opportunities. Business intelligence applications store and present key enterprise data so that anyone in a company can quickly and easily ask questions of accurate and timely data.”


Simply put, BI delivers a data smorgasbord


• Number one technology for last three years

• #2 Most important technology (after anti-virus)

• $7.5B (2008) growing at 6.3% CAGR to $10.2B (2013)

BI continues to grow.


Se-ries1

Demand Supply (Capacity)

“Agile BI: 1.) get development done faster; 2.) react quickly to changing business requirements”Source: Agile BI Out of the Box, April 22, 2010.

And project velocity and demand continues to increase.


What Do Users Have To Say About Bi Project Delivery

So,

?


POLL: How satisfied are your end-users with theBI solutions your IT organization delivers?

• Overjoyed

• Satisfied

• Somewhat Satisfied

• Not Satisfied


NCC Survey: 87% of BI Projects miss objectives

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Users give BI failing marks when it comes toproject satisfaction

Any of this sound familiar?

87% of BI Projects miss objective• Process of asking questions too slow - 52%

• System doesn’t have the data I need - 65%

• Can’t ask the questions I need to - 55%

Source: NCC Survey


1. We’ve made BI a technology, not a business solution

2. We do the work and tell the users it is what they need

3. We figure the latest BI tool will fix the problem

4. We believe BI is easy and therefore anyone can do it

5. We don’t follow a standard discipline (like our application development counterparts or each project to themselves!)

THE FIVE DREADED HOT ZONESWhere we get burned every time!


But, there is a stairway to heaven.


How do I create the stairway to heaven?BI Nirvana

Engage the business

Step #2

Change behavior; automate the process

BI UtopiaHow do I get there?

Engage the business

Automate everything

Change behavior



Engage the business

Step #2



Engage the business

Automate everything

Change behavior


Step 1: Engage the BusinessWe show them everything under the hood….


Brochure and driving experience

When all they want is a brochure, test drive and have confidence that it’s going to work.

Business Dimensional Modeling provides the brochure.


?BUSINESSDIMENSIONALMODELING

what is


Like a map, the BDM defines the ways users can get to the answers they are looking for.

The Business Dimensional ModelTM (BDM) is a data model that captures relationships between business attributes and the dimensionality of facts in end user terms. This conceptual multi-dimensional model easily translates into both logical and physical database designs.


BDM focuses on ease of use and query performance

Ease of Use

Ensures data presentation makes sense to the business

Query Performance

Provides technical depth and performance speed


Dimensions• Major Business Groupings

> Customers > Products> Dates

• The relationship between dimensional attributes creates drill paths and hierarchies

Facts

• Measurements of business events

• Measured & monitored over time

• Amounts and counts - the basis for all calculations

• Examples:> Units ordered> Retail price> Amount paid> Gross margin> Revenue forecast> Loan balance

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A BDM is comprised of dimensions and facts


Ease of use example:

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Day

2010-07-07

CalendarMonth

CY 2010 M07

CalendarQuarter

CY 2010 Q2

CalendarYear

CY 2010

Mapping the way users want tolook at dates.



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Day

2010-07-07

Fiscal Year

Fiscal Quarter

Fiscal Week

Fiscal Month

CalendarWeek

Day of WeekWeek

4-WednesdayCW 28

CalendarMonth

CY 2010 M07

CalendarQuarter

CY 2010 Q2

CalendarYear

CY 2010

Mapping the way users want tolook at dates.


Customer

Acme Widgets, Inc.

Mapping the way users want tolook at their Customers


PA - Pennsylvania

CustomerCountry

Customer City

CustomerState

Philadelphia, PA

USA


Customer Region

CustomerDate of 1st Purchase

ProspectIndicator

Customer Status

Customer

Acme Widgets, Inc.

CustomerZip Code

19115

Mapping the way users want tolook at their Customers


PA - Pennsylvania

CustomerCountry

Customer City

CustomerState

Philadelphia, PA

USA


Example facts: Call Center Calls

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Fact Name DefinitionCall Minutes Total number of minutes spent on the phone with a customer.

Wait Minutes Number of minutes that the customer was put on hold before a customer service representative spoke to them.

Number of Call Transfers

Number of times that this call was transferred to another customer service representative. The first time a call is being handled, this is set to zero. Each subsequent transfer has this set to one. The total Number of Transfers can be determined by summing the Number of Call Transfers grouped by Call Transaction.

Number of calls Number of calls that were handled. This is set to one for each row at the lowest level.


Example fact group design: Call Center Calls

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Calls

DateDay

CustomerCustomer

Dimension

Grain (level of detail)

Fact Group


Example fact group design: Call Center Calls

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Calls

DateDay

TimeMinute

EmployeeEmployee

CallCall

Transac-tion

Call OutcomeCall Outcome

CustomerCustomer

Dimension

Grain (level of detail)

Fact Group


The model in action: How it works

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Customer

Date

Customer Regions # of Calls


The model in action: How it works

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Customer

Date

Calls

Customer Regions # of Calls


Like the happy BMW owner, Business Dimensional Modeling ensures that we are:

• Answering the right questions• Optimizing for high performance= User satisfaction


?QUESTIONS



Engage the business

Step #2



Automate everything

Change behavior

Engage the business


Step 2: Automate everything


Automating a date dimension

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Automating a date dimension

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Automating a fact group design

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Automating a fact group design

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Align your business vocabulary with built in Collaboration

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A product, platform, or service that our company sells or intends to sell to customers to generate revenue.

ApprovalProcess?


Align your business vocabulary with built in Collaboration

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A product, platform, or service that our company sells or intends to sell to customers to generate revenue.

Should be “customer or prospect”

ApprovalProcess?

Facilitated Resolution

I like the word “offering” as a more succinct way to say “product/platform or service.”


Test

Dri

ve


Landing Area (ODS)

Data Warehouse(EDW)

Subject AreaData Mart(s)

User Access Layer BI PlatformQuery, Report, OLAP, Predictive

OLAPCubes

OracleApps

SAP Lawson…

System Intake (ETL)

Bala

nced

Insi

ght C

onse

nsus

®O

nlin

e W

iki,

Rapi

d D

eplo

ymen

t Kno

wle

dgeb

ase

?

Business Specific Subject Area

generates yourBI Solution

from a business model


We have the brochure (BDM) and we now can test drive.

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The BI test drive is automated through Consensus


POLL: What would users say about your engagement model or communication habits?

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• The business is from Venus; IT

is from Mars

• Users have no idea who we are or that we exist

• Interactions are confrontational

at best

• We try to talk, but could use an interpreter

• Great communication – let’s do lunch again



Engage the business

Step #2



Change behavior

Engage the business

Automate everything


• Represent multiple business perspectives.

• Include both Business and IT representation

• Get organized:

− BI Competency Center (BICC)

− BI Center of Excellence (BICOE)

− BI Solution Center (BISC)

1: Create a focused team


• Can’t have everything at once

• Make choices that deliver business value

• Be fiscally responsible

• COMMUNICATE!

3: Adjust expectations to reality


4: Celebrate progress

• Reflect on where you havecome from

• Measure success one stepat a time

• Keep momentum going


So, here’s what you need to do…(no need to write it down, we will email it to you)

Engage with the Business» Ask the business what they think of you & your team» Ask the business how you could be better

Educate yourself on BDM» Buy Laura’s book (some lucky folks will get one free for attending today)

» Attend Laura’s course (next 2/13 @ TDWI Las Vegas)

» Ask us about Laura’s onsite courses (1 to 3 days)» Begin to develop and document your Business

Dimensional Model(s)

Give your next BI Application a Test Drive» Get a demonstration of Consensus» Establish a proof project for Consensus and BDM


THANK YOU.

TOM HAMMERGREN LAURA REEVESEMAIL: [email protected]: 513.322.1646 (o)TWITTER: @thammergren or @balancedinsightBLOG: www.balancedinsight.com/blogWEB: www.balancedinsight.com

EMAIL: [email protected]: 630.971.3782WEB: www.starsoftinc.com

Business Dimensional Modeling with Laura Reeves

Technology

Transcript of Business Dimensional Modeling with Laura Reeves