The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling (Second Edition) (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: snapshot fact table, warehouse bus matrix, accumulating snapshot, Store Key, Account Key, Organization Key (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...this is the daddy of data warehousing process books. No other material available so concisely and precisely explains what is required from a data warehousing solution...this is a great book..." -- Enterprise Server Magazine, July 2002

"...this is the daddy of data warehousing process books. No other material available so concisely and precisely explains what is required from a data warehousing solution...this is a great book..." (Enterprise Server Magazine, July 2002)

Product Description

Single most authoritative guide from the inventor of the technique.
* Presents unique modeling techniques for e-commerce, and shows strategies for optimizing performance.
* Companion Web site provides updates on dimensional modeling techniques, links related to sites, and source code where appropriate.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (April 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471200247
• ISBN-13: 978-0471200246
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,432 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

93 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Wisdom, May 5, 2002

By	Jim Stagnitto (New Hope, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are a lot of data warehousing books out there that try to answer the question: 'Why'? Why data warehouses are needed to help businesses make better decisions - why the OLTP systems that run the business can't do this - and sometimes even why businesses ought to invest in data warehouses. These books were terrifically useful to us years ago, when we needed help (and scholarly footnotes) in our data warehouse project proposals. This book is not one of those - it is all about:

How

How to actually design and build a repository that will deliver real value to real people. In this reviewer's opinion, Ralph Kimball's many contributions related to the 'how' of data warehousing stand alone.

An engineer wishing to jump-start his or her data warehouse education would need to read Ralph's Data Warehouse Toolkit first edition, his Data Webhouse Toolkit... a bunch of "Data Warehouse Designer" Intelligence Enterprise magazine articles... AND lurk on the Data Warehousing List Server...for a few years (all terrific resources - by the way) - in order to stockpile the knowledge that is crisply presented here.

No shortcuts taken by the authors that I can spot: all of the toughest dimensional design issues that I've tripped on - and that I can remember surfacing on in discussion groups over the past few years - are addressed in this significantly updated text. Not all of the solutions are 'pretty' - but it is clear that they thoughtfully address the problem. This approach, in my opinion, instills student confidence - and lets us know that we are getting sound instruction - not dogma.

The authors have been listening to and addressing the data warehouse community's 'pain' through periodicals and posts for years - but this book pulls these point solutions together very nicely. I learned a surprising number of really useful new techniques, and was genuinely enlightened by the 'Present Imperatives and Future Outlook' section.

As in the first edition, there is minimal philosophical lecturing, and zero religion. Instead, we get generous helpings of real-world case studies - aptly applied to progressively more advanced series of design concepts.

This style absolutely works for me. And I suspect that engineering mindsets typical of the folks that build these things will likely agree. In short, the Data Warehouse Toolkit Second Edition will significantly lighten the load of books that I carry between data warehouse engagements.

Jim Stagnitto
Llumino, Inc.
www.llumino.com

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top-notch course in dimensional data warehouses, August 27, 2002

By A Customer

If you want to understand data warehouse design either as user, architect or developer, you need to read this book cover to cover.

Things I like about this book:

* Coverage of all core principles in dimensional data modeling using examples. Ralph does not just lecture to you -- he shows you how to put it into practice

* Coverage of a vast variety of domains. This alone makes the book a must-read

* Recap of major principles at the end of the book to bring it all together

* Excellent writing -- Ralph does not treat you like a dummy; neither does he assume that you have an IQ north of 200

* When you purchase this book, you are in effect purchasing a sliver of the combined knowledge of both authors in the data warehousing field. Highly recommended

I implemented a data warehouse using some of these principles back in 1999. The project was a resounding success and is the most popular application in the financial services firm that I implemented it in. (Infact when I lost my job at an Internet company, they immediately offered me a job based on this implementation). The only sad part to the whole story is that we made a few mistakes in implementation that are now very difficult to correct because the data warehouse has become core to the business -- we have too many end-user applications riding on it!

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Data Warehousing is in the eye of the beholder, June 6, 2003

By	Srihari Mailvaganam (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Data Warehousing is more of an art than a science - but then again what isn't?

There isn't a standard blueprint that can come close to solving most data issues. Data Warehousing (DW) involves constant tweaking and the goal of good DW project management is minimizing the associated operational cost.

I have been a fan of Ralph Kimball as he writes as a person who has been through many implementations. With Mr. Kimball there isn't a miracle cure being touted - stay away from publications that claim such a cure.

Mr. Kimball approached the subject with good advices and encourages the readers to watch out for the pitfalls and follow best-practices in design implementation. It is similar to working with a well experienced supervisor.

The core to successful DW implementations is - LISTENING. Listening to the users on their needs and gauging the software resources available at your disposal.

Trade-offs in design versus cost/performance are a must. You will never have all the resources you need to implement the DW of your dreams. And if you did, chances are very high that once the DW is ready for use the business cases have changed making the design redundant.

Mr. Kimball will help in passing these information and much more. It also goes in good technical detail for suggested modeling of data.

I hope this review is helpful, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.