How to Succeed at Data Warehouse Project Management

Data Warehouse Project Management is crucial to success.

The project needs to be thoroughly planned, staffed with experienced staff, have an adequate budget, and have access to tools appropriate to the job at hand.

Wow! So how do you do this!

Here are some tips for project managers; I have gained from many years involved in Information Technology projects:

  1. First stand back from the project and try to identify the most difficult or demanding parts of the project. For example, it could be processing times for certain parts of the ETL or response time to provide a certain type of report.

  2. For each of these parts consider doing a small pilot project to establish:
    • The people resource you will need to complete the project on time. Don't start the project unless you are confident that you have enough resource to complete the project on time and within budget.
    • You have an appropriate budget.
    • The technical tools you will need, for example, will you need to hand code parts of the Extraction or can you use a standard software extraction program.

  3. Think out what can go wrong! Your top programmer leaves unexpectedly? Have fallback position or contingency plan/s in place if your plan does not work out. Don't leave it until it happens

  4. Break your plan down into steps, ensure everyone who is working on the project knows exactly what is expected of them.

  5. Keep close control of the project at each step. Use a Project Planning Software tool to support you

  6. Ensure you have work procedures all laid out to control the project.

  7. Have three lines of defense

    1. Carry out formal Reviews of each piece of work by a experienced member of the team
    2. Test each component thoroughly using written test cases
    3. Carry out regular audits of the work done to ensure that your procedures are being adhered too.
If you have ISO 9001:2000 and TickIT certification, these items will be standard for you!

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