Impossible Data Warehouse Situations: Solutions from the Experts

The Data Warehouse Has a Record of Failure.
IT Is Unresponsive.
Management Constantly Changes.
IT Is the Assassin.
The Pilot Must Be Perfect.
User Departments Don't Want to Share Data.
Senior Management Doesn't Know What the Data Warehouse Team Does.

The Operational System Is Changing.
The Source System Constantly Changes.
The Data Warehouse Vision Has Become Blurred.
The Objectives Are Misunderstood.
The Prototype Becomes Production.
Management Doesn't Recognize the Success of the Data Warehouse Project.

User Productivity Justification Is Not Allowed.
How Can the Company Identify Infrastructure Benefits?
Does a Retailer Need a Data Warehouse?
How Can Costs Be Allocated Fairly?
Historical Data Must Be Justified.
No Money Exists for a Prototype.

To Whom Should the Data Warehouse Team Report?
The Organization Uses Matrix Management.
The Project Has No Consistent Business Sponsor.
Should a Line of Business Build Its Own Data Mart?
The Project Has No Dedicated Staff.
The Project Manager Has Baggage.
No One Wants to Work for the Company.
The Organization Is Not Ready for a Data Warehouse.

The Users Want It Now.
The Business Does Not Support the Project.
Web-Based Implementation Doesn't Impress the Users.
Management Rejects Multidimensional Tools as Being Too Complex.
The Users Have High Data Quality Expectations.
The Users Don't Know What They Want.

A Heat-Seeking Employee Threatens the Project.
Management Assigned Dysfunctional Team Members to the Data Warehouse Project.
Management Requires Team Consensus.
Prima Donnas on the Team Create Dissension.
Team Members Aren't Honest about Progress on Assignments.
A Consultant Offers to Come to the Rescue.
The Consultants Are Running the Show.
The Contractors Have Fled.
Knowledge Transfer Is Not Happening.
How Can Data Warehouse Managers Best Use Consultants?
Management Wants to Outsource the Data Warehouse Activities.

Management Requires Substantiation of Estimates.
IT Management Sets Unrealistic Deadlines.
The Sponsor Changes the Scope But Doesn't Want to Change the Schedule.
The Users Want the First Data Warehouse Delivery to Include Everything.
The Project Manager Severely Underestimates the Schedule.

II. IMPOSSIBLE TECHNICAL SITUATIONS.

The Organization Has No Experience with Methodologies.
Database Administration Standards Are Inappropriate for the Data Warehouse.
The Employees Misuse Data Warehouse Terminology.
It's All Data Mining.
A Multinational Company Needs to Build a Business Intelligence Environment.

What Are the Best Practices for Writing a Request for Proposals?
The Users Don't Like the Query and Reporting Tool.
OO Is the Answer (But What's the Question?).
IT Has Already Chosen the Tool.
Will the Tools Perform Well?
The Vendor Has Undue Influence.
The Rejected Vendor Doesn't Understand "No".
The Vendor's Acquiring Company Provides Poor Support.

The Data Warehouse Has No Security Plan.
Responsibility for Security Must Be Established.
Where Should a New Security Administrator Start?

How Should Sampling Be Applied to Data Quality?
Redundant Data Needs to Be Eliminated.
Management Underestimated the Amount of Dirty Data.
Management Doesn't Recognize the Value of Data Quality.
The Data Warehouse Architect Is Obsessed with Data Quality.
The ETL Process Partially Fails.
Source Data Errors Cause Massive Updates.

Multiple Source Systems Require Major Data Integration.
The Enterprise Model Is Delaying Progress.
Should a Company Decentralize?
The Business Sponsor Wants Real-Time Customer Updates.
The Company Doesn't Want Stovepipe Systems.
Reports from the Data Warehouse and Operational Systems Don't Match.
Should the Data Warehouse Team Fix an Inadequate Operational System?

The Data Warehouse Architecture Is Inadequate.
Stovepipes Are Impeding Integration.
Should Backdated Transactions Change Values in the Data Warehouse?
A Click-Stream Data Warehouse Will Be