THE DATA DOWNLOAD

Topics: Data Quality

Top Ten Data Quality Problems: Part I

By: Sally McCormack, Data Quality Competency Director, Datasource Consulting, LLC

Problems with data quality are costly to an enterprise. When facing the potential for missed opportunities, uninformed decision-making, non-compliance sanctions, and low customer satisfaction, today’s business leaders are making data quality a priority in their organizations’ data management programs. An Experian report found that 88 percent of companies see a direct effect of inaccurate data on their bottom line, losing an average of 12 percent of their revenue. In a similar study by Database Marketing, organizations estimate that they could increase sales by nearly a third (29%) with corrected customer data. (Source: Internal Results)

Topics: Business Intelligence, Blog, Cloud, Server Administration

Data Warehous Appliances: Lessons from the Trenches

By Jerry Locke & Steve Dine

Over the past few years data warehouse (DW) appliances have become a viable option for business intelligence (BI) programs looking to load and process large data volumes as well as reducing query execution times. However, like most architectural decisions, there are many factors to consider when choosing to implement a DW appliance that aren’t usually highlighted during the sales presentation. This article will present some observations and lessons learned from a recent project in which we implemented a DW appliance for both the data warehouse and the data mart layers of the client architecture.

Topics: Tableau, Blog, Enterprise Data

Steps for Using Tabeau

Tableau is a robust visualization tool capable of serving many roles in modern organizations. From data discovery to ad-hoc analysis to enterprise reporting, Tableau provides the functionality to give business users quick and useful access to their data. Report scheduling and Data Governance capabilities enhance this access and the quality of reporting. Many businesses now seek to utilize Tableau as an enterprise reporting tool, but they must take the necessary steps to be successful and ensure Tableau is the correct software choice for their needs.

Topics: Press Releases

ACQUISITION BOLSTERS EXL’S ABILITY TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT DATA STRATEGIES, DATA ARCHITECTURE AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SOLUTIONS

NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EXL (NASDAQ:EXLS), a leading Operations Management and Analytics company, today announced that it has acquired Datasource Consulting, LLC, a Denver-based company specializing in Enterprise Data Management and Business Intelligence. The acquisition enhances EXL’s capabilities to advise clients on data management and governance strategies, architect and implement their data infrastructures, and manage their data assets on an ongoing basis.

Topics: Blog, Enterprise Data

By: Matt Caton, Senior BI Analyst, Datasource Consulting, LLC and Steve Dine, President, Datasource Consulting, LLC

Introduction

In the trenches, we constantly look for techniques to provide more efficient and effective reporting and analysis. For those that utilize cubes, multidimensional databases, or dimensionally-modeled relational (DMR) models, multi-dimensional expressions (MDX) can be leveraged for both solving complex report requirements and providing deeper insights to report consumers. 

Topics: Business Intelligence, Blog

By: Steven Dine, President of Datasource Consulting, LLC

I am always dismayed when reading articles and analyst reports that include a statistic of the percentage of Business Intelligence (BI) initiatives that fail or do not meet customer expectations. Most of those articles and reports go on to describe the now well-known reasons for why these types of initiatives fail, including lack of high-level sponsorship, poor data quality, low level of functional participation, unacceptable query response times, etc. What I never see mentioned, but often see in practice, is the incompatibility between the requirements and the implemented architecture in consultant-led initiatives.  How does this happen when nearly every consulting organization has a BI implementation methodology and experienced resources in implementing BI programs? While there are many causes, one often overlooked reason is the inconsistency in how BI consulting companies define the basic BI concepts. Many times the definitions depend on which consultant at the company you ask. I have yet to find these definitions posted on even the largest BI consultancy websites. 

Topics: Data Governance, Data Virtualization, Blog, Master Data Management, Enterprise Data

By:  David Crolene, Principle Solution Architect

The verdict is in and Data Virtualization (DV) is here to stay.  This is driven by many factors such as the maturation of vendor technologies (e.g., heterogeneous join optimization, row level security, and high availability), increases in computing power, and a decrease in time end users are willing to wait for access to data. 

Topics: Data Governance, Blog

Data Governance Implementation

By: Datasource

So far in this series on Data Governance, we’ve covered four critical elements including:

Data Governance Challenges: Understanding the Problem

Data Governance Challenges: Strategy

Data Governance Challenges: Organizing

Data Governance Challenges: Communicating

If you’ve missed any of these articles, feel free to follow the links above.

In this article, the final article in the series, we’ll cover your Data Governance Execution and Implementation plan. This is where the rubber truly hits the road. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into the fifth section on Data Governance – Data Governance Execution and Implementation Plan.

Topics: Data Governance, Blog

Data Governance Communicating & Marketing

By: Datasource

A Data Governance Program is a long term project that will completely alter the way data is processed at your company.  Building momentum, gaining a following and showing successes will be critical for your long term success.  Therefore, it’s a good practice to work with the marketing team to develop a marketing plan for your Data Governance Program.

Listed below are four separate tips for communicating your Data Governance Program to the masses.

Topics: Data Governance, Blog

Data Governance Organizing

By: Datasource

How visible is your Data Governance program?  Do you have the right levels of support to effectively drive your program?  Does everyone in the organization know what is transpiring around them?  Part four of our continuing series on Data Governance focuses on establishing the Data Governance Council and involving the right key players to help drive the Data Governance initiative.  Having the right key players on your team will help shine a spot light on the Data Governance program and sustain the momentum.