The Kimball methodology of building a data warehouse is often called a bottom-up approach. This label, along with its associated connotations, is misleading, and misunderstandings about our approach are proliferating. It’s time to set the record straight: Although our iterative development and deployment techniques may superficially suggest a bottom-up methodology, a closer look reveals a […]

Intelligent Enterprise published an article entitled “The Bottom-Up Misnomer” in their latest September 17th issue. I wrote this article with Ralph several months ago. While it’s been working through the publishing pipeline, an industry newsletter has sparked more bottom-up versus top-down discussion. Everyone seems to feel qualified to explain the Kimball approach. Unfortunately, they sometimes spread misunderstandings and continue […]

As data warehouse designers, you know how important a business executive sponsor is to your initiative. After focusing on data warehousing for the past two decades, I’m convinced that strong business sponsorship is the leading make-or-break indicator of data warehouse success. Having the so-called right sponsor can overcome a multitude of shortcomings, such as difficulties […]