Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is the clearest, most practical book on data profiling and data quality that I have seen. Jack breaks down data quality issues into specific categories, and leaves you with a vision of what to do if you are building a data warehouse. His practical experience shows through very clearly and he talks to the IT developer (the reader) very effectively.
This book is on my very short list of essential reading for data warehouse professionals.
Ralph Kimball
Data Warehouse Author

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Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension is about assessing the quality of corporate data and improving its accuracy using the data profiling method. Corporate data is increasingly important as companies continue to find new ways to use it. Likewise, improving the accuracy of data in information systems is fast becoming a major goal as companies realize how much it affects their bottom line. Data profiling is a new technology that supports and enhances the accuracy of databases throughout major IT shops. Jack Olson explains data profiling and shows how it fits into the larger picture of data quality. * Provides an accessible, enjoyable introduction to the subject of data accuracy, peppered with real-world anecdotes. * Provides a framework for data profiling with a discussion of analytical tools appropriate for assessing data accuracy. * Is written by one of the original developers of data profiling technology. * Is a must-read for any data management staff, IT management staff, and CIOs of companies with data assets.

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The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit Review

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(More customer reviews)but were afraid to ask. This is the definitive book on the DW lifecycle. After having worked on two not-so-perfect data warehousing projects, I found myself on more than one occasion seeing in print many of the ideas that I have either arrived at by trial and error or had a hunch were the right way to go. I would have given this book five stars, except for one thing: you really need to have read Kimball's first book, The Data Warehouse Toolkit, to get the proper foundation for reading the DW Lifecylcle Toolkit. I bought the DW Lifecycle Toolkit first thinking that I could jump right ahead. Not so. Much to my chagrin, I ended up buying the DW Toolkit and reading it first. These books really should be offered with the option to be purchased together. That way, the reader will know up front that both books are a must read.

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A thorough update to the industry standard for designing, developing, and deploying data warehouse and business intelligence systems
The world of data warehousing has changed remarkably since the first edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit was published in 1998. In that time, the data warehouse industry has reached full maturity and acceptance, hardware and software have made staggering advances, and the techniques promoted in the premiere edition of this book have been adopted by nearly all data warehouse vendors and practitioners. In addition, the term "business intelligence" emerged to reflect the mission of the data warehouse: wrangling the data out of source systems, cleaning it, and delivering it to add value to the business.
Ralph Kimball and his colleagues have refined the original set of Lifecycle methods and techniques based on their consulting and training experience. The authors understand first-hand that a data warehousing/business intelligence (DW/BI) system needs to change as fast as its surrounding organization evolves. To that end, they walk you through the detailed steps of designing, developing, and deploying a DW/BI system. You'll learn to create adaptable systems that deliver data and analyses to business users so they can make better business decisions.
With substantial new and updated content, this second edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit again sets the standard in data warehousing for the next decade. It shows you how to:
Identify and prioritize data warehouse opportunities
Create an architecture plan and select products
Design a powerful, flexible, dimensional model
Build a robust ETL system
Develop BI applications to deliver data to business users
Deploy and sustain a healthy DW/BI environment

The authors are members of the Kimball Group. Each has focused on data warehousing and business intelligence consulting and education for more than 15 years; most have written other books in the Toolkit series. Learn more about the Kimball Group and Kimball University at www.kimballgroup.com.
This book is also available as part of the Kimball's Data Warehouse Toolkit Classics Box Set (ISBN: 9780470479575) with the following 3 books:

The Data Warehouse Toolkit, 2nd Edition (9780471200246)
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit, 2nd Edition (9780470149775)
The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit (9780764567575)

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Star Schema The Complete Reference Review

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(More customer reviews)I always been a great fan of Chris Adamson's writing - and "Star Schema - the Complete Reference" further reinforces this admiration.
The text is a model of clarity, and the book's ideas are organized and presented in a way that rewards the reader with well-chosen examples of escalating dimensional elegance and power as progressively more advance concepts are introduced. Chris deftly and wisely avoids investing too much ink in philosophical discussions of data warehousing architectures, by (correctly) pointing out that dimensional models are universally embraced by all thought-leaders for the "last mile" presentation of information to users. So we best model them correctly - regardless of the upstream plumbing that feeds them.
All of the great dimensional design techniques that we've come to expect from Chris are presented here with added depth and context- including truly great materials on modeling each of the fact table types, and brilliant design approaches for hierarchies and aggregates. But I also appreciate the fact that "Star Schema" bravely addresses really tough dimensional design challenges (multi-valued dimensions, factless facts, derived schemas, and many others) that too often confound and frustrate mere mortal (us) practitioners in the field.
Chris has managed to produce a truly practical dimensional data warehouse design book that is at once irrefutably comprehensive, empowering, and yet eminently readable - a very tough balance to strike. Many thanks and congratulations to him - this is a wonderful and important contribution to the field.
Jim Stagnitto
Llumino, Inc. ([...]), Caserta Concepts ([...])

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The definitive guide to dimensional design for your data warehouse
Learn the best practices of dimensional design. Star Schema: The Complete Reference offers in-depth coverage of design principles and their underlying rationales. Organized around design concepts and illustrated with detailed examples, this is a step-by-step guidebook for beginners and a comprehensive resource for experts.
This all-inclusive volume begins with dimensional design fundamentals and shows how they fit into diverse data warehouse architectures, including those of W.H. Inmon and Ralph Kimball. The book progresses through a series of advanced techniques that help you address real-world complexity, maximize performance, and adapt to the requirements of BI and ETL software products. You are furnished with design tasks and deliverables that can be incorporated into any project, regardless of architecture or methodology.
Master the fundamentals of star schema design and slow change processing
Identify situations that call for multiple stars or cubes
Ensure compatibility across subject areas as your data warehouse grows
Accommodate repeating attributes, recursive hierarchies, and poor data quality
Support conflicting requirements for historic data
Handle variation within a business process and correlation of disparate activities
Boost performance using derived schemas and aggregates
Learn when it's appropriate to adjust designs for BI and ETL tools

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The Multidimensional Data Modeling Toolkit: Making Your Business Intelligence Applications Smart with Oracle OLAP Review

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(More customer reviews)I thought this book was definitely worthwhile. It gave a good explanation of the multidimensional data framework and what can be done with it. Even though I don't use Oracle, I found the discussion interesting and the concepts useful. I do web marketing as a profession and have been curious about what kinds of analyses can be done with OLAP and business intelligence tools. I think this book did a good job of explaining that. I ran across the book at the office, I picked it up and found it very readable. The book included a lot of technical specifics about how to work with the Oracle system, which I glossed over mostly, but was still able to follow the rest of the book just fine. If you want specifics on Oracle (Analytic Workspaces, Oracle OLAP, etc), you'll find them here, if you want the concepts of OLAP and multidimensional data analysis, you'll find that too, all in a well-written volume with a few funny cartoons.

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The Multi-dimensional Data Modeling Toolkit provides an In-depth treatment of Oracle OLAP as well as a comprehensive examination of analytical techniques in a multidimensional OLAP framework. Application developers and database administrators will appreciate this book, packed with examples, tricks and techniques, and concrete illustrations of the programming elements needed to implement high-performance analytical applications. Data miners, statisticians, and power analysts will find the analysis techniques of particular interest.Written in a tutorial style, this book gives, in plain English, a step-by-step development of the defining principles of OLAP analysis through the lens of the programming language at the heart of Oracle's OLAP database option. This book represents over 15 years of hands-on experience developing multidimensional analytic applications for over a dozen companies.Whether you are new to business intelligence or a seasoned practitioner, The Multi-dimensional Data Modeling Toolkit will have something to offer.

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The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling (Second Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)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 wishing to jump-start his or her data warehouse education would need to read Ralph's Data Warehouse Toolkit first edition, his Data Webhouse Toolkit... a bunch of "Data Warehouse Designer" 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 taken by the authors that I can spot: all of the toughest dimensional design issues that I've tripped on - and that I 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 approach, in my opinion, instills student confidence - and lets us know that we are getting sound instruction - not dogma.
The authors have been listening to and addressing the data warehouse community's 'pain' through periodicals and posts for years - 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. Instead, we get generous helpings of real-world case studies - aptly applied to 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 likely agree. In short, the Data Warehouse Toolkit Second Edition will significantly lighten the load of books that I carry between data warehouse engagements.
Jim Stagnitto
Llumino, Inc.
www.llumino.com

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The latest edition of the single most authoritative guide on dimensional modeling for data warehousing!
Dimensional modeling has become the most widely accepted approach for data warehouse design. Here is a complete library of dimensional modeling techniques-- the most comprehensive collection ever written. Greatly expanded to cover both basic and advanced techniques for optimizing data warehouse design, this second edition to Ralph Kimball's classic guide is more than sixty percent updated.
The authors begin with fundamental design recommendations and gradually progress step-by-step through increasingly complex scenarios. Clear-cut guidelines for designing dimensional models are illustrated using real-world data warehouse case studies drawn from a variety of business application areas and industries, including:
* Retail sales and e-commerce
* Inventory management
* Procurement
* Order management
* Customer relationship management (CRM)
* Human resources management
* Accounting
* Financial services
* Telecommunications and utilities
* Education
* Transportation
* Health care and insurance
By the end of the book, you will have mastered the full range of powerful techniques for designing dimensional databases that are easy to understand and provide fast query response. You will also learn how to create an architected framework that integrates the distributed data warehouse using standardized dimensions and facts.
This book is also available as part of the Kimball's Data Warehouse Toolkit Classics Box Set (ISBN: 9780470479575) with the following 3 books:

The Data Warehouse Toolkit, 2nd Edition (9780471200246)
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit, 2nd Edition (9780470149775)
The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit (9780764567575)

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