Data Warehousing
One Version of the Truth
A central theme of any data warehouse project is to provide a solution whereby numbers
are reported consistently across the enterprise. A well designed and maintained
data warehouse should provide 'One Version of the Truth', preventing common scenarios
in companies where different figures are reported at important meetings for apparently
the same business measure.
There should ideally be a well defined business rules dictionary explaining what
each measure in the business is and how it is calculated. Our experience however
tells us that there will never be a 100% perfect dictionary, but defining one is
a good start. It needs to be maintained and agreed on across departments. This dictionary
often works hand in hand with the KPI definitions of the business.
Once the benefits of a centralised data warehouse with the noble goal of one version
of the truth is appreciated, it makes a lot of business sense to seek out the right
people to design and build the right schema to achieve this aim. We at Consolidata
are experts and have many years experience in this field.