Past Book Review (September 26, 2008): "DW2.0"
Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for DW2.0: The Architecture for the Next Generation of Data Warehousing (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems), by William H. Inmon, Derek Strauss, and Genia Neushloss, Morgan Kaufmann, 2008, reposted here:
Awareness of this book arose following my recent reading of a white paper on Data Vault data modeling by Dan Linstedt that a recent client of mine had suggested. And although I was not impressed with that white paper, what I found intriguing is that Lindstedt quotes Bill Inmon as saying that "the Data Vault is the optimal choice for modeling the EDW in the DW 2.0 framework." Thus the acquisition of this text by Inmon.
Almost everyone vaguely familiar with this industry space is probably familiar with Bill Inmon and Ralph Kimball. What is interesting is that Inmon, the "Father of Data Warehousing", is credited alongside two other individuals with writing this text. It is not transparent as to who actually wrote most of the content for "DW2.0", but what is quickly apparent is that most of the statements contained in the book are generalities, and the vast majority of the diagrams are deplorable, consisting mostly of inferior clip art that adds little to nothing to the discussion. Most of the material is presented in a theoretical manner with very little practical substance. This reviewer hesitates to even recommend this latest Inmon effort to client management.
Even outside the domain of data warehousing, there seems to be something amiss with what the authors attempt to present. For example, chapter 6 consists of a 17-page discussion on "methodology and approach", and for the first 7 pages of this chapter, the authors discuss the spiral, waterfall, and iterative methodologies. Keeping in mind that there are various interpretations for each of these methodologies (see my reviews for "Agile & Iterative Development" by Larman and "Balancing Agility and Discipline" by Boehm and Turner, for example), the push of the authors to introduce spiral methodology as a "critical step toward success in second-generation data warehousing" is seemingly illogical.
Despite all of this, however, what this text provides is as follows: (1) one of the first attempts to standardize data warehousing terminology in what is a very fragmented market segment, (2) explanation of high-level data warehousing concepts, and (3) suggestions on how to avoid some of the problems that have plagued enterprise data and how to manage the high influx of unstructured data that corporations are now creating. Keep in mind, however, that this book is tied into marketing "DW2.0" consulting and certification training, which may provide an explanation as to the vagueness of the material.