|
The creation of universal and foundation dimensions (I.e. customer dimension is exactly the
same across all data marts) is a long haul and it needs a cross functional and
cross-process engagement. It is better to progress a show-case data mart so
to get a sponsorship for a Data Warehouse initiative (which will include the
creation of universal dimensions and measures).
There is a more intrinsic challenge. Sometimes even the customer dimension within
a data-mart (say at a departmental level), becomes very fluid as complete
thinking is not done on the dimension construct. This is due to co-ordination
issue within the department (campaign managers vs sales lead managers within the sales
function) and simple skills issues. This leads to a frequent demand for changes
to the dimension.
The first step is therefore to have a good customer dimension (a low hanging
fruit) within a data-warehouse before targeting the organization wide universal
and consistent dimensions.
|
