The Data Webhouse Toolkit: Building the Web-Enabled Data Warehouse (Paperback)

by Ralph Kimball (Author), Richard Merz (Author) "Bringing the Web to the warehouse means bringing behavior to the warehouse..." (more)
Key Phrases: other data marts, assurance gatekeeper, first fact table, United States, Data Webhouse Architect Design Responses, Alta Vista (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In this groundbreaking work, authors and data warehousing visionaries Ralph Kimball and Richard Merz explore a next-generation Web site architecture that exploits the unique nature of the Web's interactivity to dramatically improve an organization's understanding of its relationship with users. The Data Webhouse Toolkit isn't a how-to manual; it is a high-level look at an ambitious new approach to system design.

The foundation of the concept of Webhouses is the "clickstream"--the plethora of information that can be gleaned if only a system could capture and accurately analyze all of the interaction (or lack thereof) that occurs between Web users and the sites they access. The authors take a careful look at all of the valuable information in the clickstream and point out the complications of compiling this precious information from various gathering sources such as the user's machine, ISP, and Web site.

The book argues strongly for the application of data warehousing and dimensional analysis to the clickstream to radically improve the strategic knowledge of customer motives and actions. While there are no real-life case studies yet to illustrate the concept, this book is bound to whet the appetites of creative entrepreneurs and system architects. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: "Clickstream" concept, opportunities and barriers to information, Web site user tracking, clickstream-driven decisions, clickstream data marts, user interface design, data mining, international concerns, scalability, and project management.

Product Description
"Ralph's latest book ushers in the second wave of the Internet. . . . Bottom line, this book provides the insight to help companies combine Internet-based business intelligence with the bounty of customer data generated from the internet."--William Schmarzo, Director World Wide Solutions, Sales, and Marketing,IBM NUMA-Q.

Receiving over 100 million hits a day, the most popular commercial Websites have an excellent opportunity to collect valuable customer data that can help create better service and improve sales. Companies can use this information to determine buying habits, provide customers with recommendations on new products, and much more. Unfortunately, many companies fail to take full advantage of this deluge of information because they lack the necessary resources to effectively analyze it.

In this groundbreaking guide, data warehousing's bestselling author, Ralph Kimball, introduces readers to the Data Webhouse--the marriage of the data warehouse and the Web. If designed and deployed correctly, the Webhouse can become the linchpin of the modern, customer-focused company, providing competitive information essential to managers and strategic decision makers. In this book, Dr. Kimball explains the key elements of the Webhouse and provides detailed guidelines for designing, building, and managing the Webhouse. The results are a business better positioned to stay healthy and competitive.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471376809
• ISBN-13: 978-0471376804
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #347,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keys to the Kingdom, February 14, 2000

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

Wow; what a powerhouse!

The Data Webhouse Toolkit is a crisp and clear recipe for successfully realizing the unprecedented opportunity that we have to better serve our customers, made possible by Web commerce, and for promoting the assimilation of these new insights through web based presentation to our decision makers.

Both sides of this symbiotic relationship: bringing the web to the warehouse, and bringing the warehouse to the web, are presented separately, but always with a holistic sensitivity.

I was also quite impressed with the terrific balance between "earth and sky"; pragmatic issues of performance, security, and web site structures are linked with non-religious, sensible discussions of privacy, corporate responsibility, and user interface philosophy.

All in all, a wonderful contribution to the field; congratulations to the authors. Highly recommended.

Jim Stagnitto
Llumino, Inc.
www.llumino.com

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Making out like a bandit., January 5, 2002

By	K. Delaney "linksalive" (Salt Lake City, Utah USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

No, the book is not by the Doctor R. Kimball played by Harrison Ford in "The Fugitive" (although this R. Kimball is making out like a bandit with his Data Warehouse series.) This primary goal of this book is to cash in on the outrageous amounts of money poured into the web during the dot com bubble. Ralph Kimball wanted his piece of the action, and has extracted a tremendous pile of loot from the naive dot com companies buying into the webhouse dream.

As with a lot of other manifestations of the dot com bubble, the book seems to oversell the technology. "Personalized banner ads" and other expensive ideas have returned pennies on the dollars. Many implementations of the webhouse have proven that there is a point where data warehouse investments no longer have a positive ROI.

IMHO Data warehouse technology has its greatest impact in mature companies with mulitple years of data to analyze, and determine trends. It is not quite fit for young companies that are in the process of self definition.

Many failed dot coms poured millions into webhouses that never returned a dime. In some cases, the webhouse diverted resources from the main product, and contributed to the company's fall.

All of Kimball's books are well written. They are designed to give insight into both the political and architectural dimensions of a data warehouse project. (Data warehouse projects are generally hot beds of political intrigue. Generally the project is launched by the CEO and MBAs to improve reporting...so the data architect is generally more involved in power politics than the standard IT guy. )

I decided to only give this book only three stars because of the unfortunate tendency we all have to over promise. I wanted to temper some of the six star praise. If you are interested in learning about data warehousing, I would start with Immon, and the first DW Toolkit, and not spend any cash on this volume.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to Web Data Warehousing, August 14, 2001

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

I am an avid reader of Ralph Kimball's books on Data Warehousing. I find that the books he authors well written and delivers the critical information in a digestable manner.

"Web Enabled Data Warehouse" is not an exception. I would recommend this book more to beginners than to readers who are already familiar with Data Warehousing and fundamentals of the Internet.

Areas where the book does not have enough focus is on dynamically created pages and effect on Data Webhouse.

If you are already familiar with Data Warehousing there many not be much new to glean from this book. There are differences that are encountered with a Webhouse than traditional Warehousing but the info in this book will not necessarily bridge the gap.