Customer Reviews

Building A Data Warehouse for Decision Support (2nd Edition)

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As someone who has been architecting, managing and implementing Data Warehouses and DSS since the beginning of the 80's I can conclude that this book is a very good introduction to Building a Data Warehouse for Decision Support. I think it would also serve as an excellent introductory book for Business Executives and DW / DSS Project Managers / Programme Managers alike. As it highlights certain pitfalls and tips from the trenches that are: not obvious to the uninitiated; avoidable; or costly then this is book is worth reading - rather than skimming through.

Ms. Poe has written an excellent book on the data warehouse and what it can do for you. She tackles questions like why do I need another database, what is the difference between a tactical and strategic data source. She does discuss star schemas but not in so much detail that you could build one. In fact, if you actually are building a data warehouse yourself, look elsewhere. I recommend "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" by Kimball. Ms. Poe sent me an e-mail that indicated her next effort would be in an unrelated field. I see that Amazon does not have a discount on this book but at some trade shows they give this book away for free. After all, it does sell the data warehouse concept

First I'm supprised to see the big font size used in this book, which makes the book heavy in weight light in content. Although it does make a good good picture of building a data warehouse from application point of view, it failed to say any thing about the real stuff of decision support, such as associate rule. The readers are also expecting a list of references for futher reading, but the book offered nothing! I don't recommend this book to anyone.

This book is a very practical book for information analysts, to get an overview. It covers all issues concerning a datawarehouse, without becoming too theoratical. The only minor point is the sometimes unlogical sequence.