Self Service Analytics As The Goal

Every time I am asked to write a report for an executive, I am reminded of an In Living Color skit from the early '90s. Having IT folks be the only people that can build reports is an unnecessary bottleneck. There are plenty of simple to use tools BI tools that are so easy, even a CIO could use it.

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The goal of all this is socialization of data. Data to the people! Viva la data! You want to build a system so that data is open and accessible to anybody in the enterprise that needs it.

You do not just want to build a database. The goal of the framework is to develop patterns so you can build an entire living breathing ecosystem around your organization's historical data. That ecosystem is a combination of people and technology that includes but is not limited to:

1. Databases both internal and external to the organization.

2. Self service reporting tools like Tableau and PowerBI.

3. 3rd party and home spun applications.

4. Business analyst.

5. Data stewards.

The list goes on. It's the whole ecosystem that powers self serve analytics. The data warehouse just is a subsystem. An important subsystem like the human heart. But a subsystem none the less. Without the ecosystem, the data warehouse will have limited value.