A thorough update to the industry standard for designing, developing, and deploying data warehouse and business intelligence systems

The world of data warehousing has changed remarkably since the first

edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit was published in 1998. In that time, the data warehouse industry has reached full maturity and acceptance, hardware and software have made

staggering advances, and the techniques promoted in the premiere edition

of this book have been adopted by

nearly all data warehouse vendors

and practitioners. In addition, the term "business intelligence" emerged to reflect the mission of the data warehouse: wrangling the data out of source systems, cleaning it, and delivering it to add value to the business.

Ralph Kimball and his colleagues have refined the original set of Lifecycle

methods and techniques based on their consulting and training experience. The authors understand first-hand that a data warehousing/business intelligence (DW/BI) system needs to change as fast as its surrounding organization evolves. To that end, they walk you through the detailed steps of designing, developing, and deploying a DW/BI system. You'll learn to create adaptable systems that deliver data and analyses to business users so they can make better business decisions.

With substantial new and updated

content, this second edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit again sets the standard in data warehousing for the next decade. It shows you how to:

• Identify and prioritize data warehouse opportunities

• Create an architecture plan and select products

• Design a powerful, flexible, dimensional model

• Build a robust ETL system

• Develop BI applications to deliver data to business users

• Deploy and sustain a healthy DW/BI environmentv

The authors are members of the Kimball Group. Each has focused on data warehousing and business intelligence consulting and education for more than 15 years; most have written other books in the Toolkit series. Learn more about the Kimball Group and Kimball University at www.kimballgroup.com.

The second edition of this industry standard on data warehouse and business intelligence systems offers new information on how to build a robust ETL system, how to develop BI applications for the delivery of data to consumers and how to create a powerful business model for your files. Kimball, a pioneer in the data warehouse industry, has assembled four additional writers from his independent consulting firm to show how the term "business intelligence" can reflect your goals in establishing a secure, flexible and user-friendly data warehouse. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The world of data warehousing has changed remarkably since the first edition of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit was published in 1998. With this new edition, Ralph Kimball and his colleagues have refined the original set of Lifecycle methods and techniques based on their consulting and training experience. They walk you through the detailed steps of designing, developing, and deploying a data warehousing/business intelligence system. With substantial new and updated content, this second edition again sets the standard in data warehousing for the next decade.

* Presenting the much-anticipated Second Edition, which boasts nearly 40 percent new and revised coverage, reflecting the latest best practices

* This unparalleled tutorial approach covers everything from planning the data warehouse project to implementing the design and managing the data warehouse environment

* The Kimball Group has streamlined the lifecycle methodology to be more efficient and user-friendly based on their thousands of hours of experience in both consulting and training

* They have also revised various lifecycle topics, including dimensional modeling, data warehouse architecture, ETL, and Business Intelligence

* New sections at the end of every process and techniques chapter feature coverage of managing the effort and reducing risk, assuring quality, estimating considerations, Web site resources, and more

Complete coverage of best practices from data warehouse project inception through on-going program management 30 to 40ew and revised content Updates industry best practices to be in sync with current recommendations of Kimball Group Streamlines the lifecycle methodology to be more efficient and user-friendly Revised tutorial approach to major lifecycle topics (including dimensional modeling, tech architecture, ETL and BI), presenting each in 2 chapters---first on concepts; second on how to techniques At the end of every process/techniques chapter,   adds the following new sections: Managing the effort and reducing risk Assuring quality Key roles Estimating considerations Website resources Task list Replaces  CD with website resources, including a task list (Microsoft Project format) and templates  Targets novice to experienced data warehouse professionals  Maintains vendor independence to ensure maximum shelf life

Ralph Kimball, PhD, is the Founder of the Kimball Group and has been a leading visionary in the data warehouse industry since 1982.

1. Introducing the Kimball Lifecycle.

2. Launching and Managing the Project/Program.

3. Collecting the Requirements.

4. Introducing the Technical Architecture.

5. Creating the Architecture Plan and Selecting Products.

6. Introducing Dimensional Modeling.

7. Designing the Dimensional Model.

8. Designing the Physical Database and Planning for Performance.

9. Introducing Extract, Transformation, and Load.

10. Designing and Developing the ETL System.

11. Introducing Business Intelligence Applications.

12. Designing and Developing Business Intelligence Applications.

13. Deploying and Supporting the Solution.

14. Expanding the DW/BI System.

Glossary.