The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit

About the Authors

The authors’ professionalcareers have followed remarkablysimilar paths.Each

author has focused on data warehousing and business intelligence (DW/BI)

consulting and education for more than fifteen years. Most worked together

at Metaphor Computer Systems, a pioneering decision support vendor, in

the 1980s. All the authors are members of the Kimball Group and teach for

Kimball University.They contribute regularlyto Intelligent Enterprise magazine

and other industry publications; most have previously written books in the

Toolkit series.

Ralph Kimball founded the Kimball Group. Since the mid 1980s, he has

been the DW/BI industry’s thought leader on the dimensional approach and

trained more than 10,000 IT professionals. Ralph has his Ph.D. in Electrical

Engineering from Stanford University.

Margy Ross is President of the Kimball Group. She has focused exclusively

on DW/BI since 1982 with an emphasis on business requirements analysis and

dimensional modeling. Margy graduated with a BS in Industrial Engineering

from Northwestern University.

Warren Thornthwaite began his DW/BI career in 1980. After managing

Metaphor’s consulting organization, he worked for Stanford University and

WebTV. Warren holds a BA in Communications Studies from the University of

Michigan and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Joy Mundy has focused on DW/BI systems since 1992 with stints at Stanford,

Web TV, and Microsoft’s SQL Server product development organization. Joy

graduated from Tufts University with a BA in Economics, and from Stanford

University with an MS in Engineering Economic Systems.

Bob Becker has helped clients across a variety of industries with their

DW/BI challenges and solutions since 1989, including extensive work with

health care organizations. Bob has a BSB in Marketing from the University of

Minnesota’s School of Business.

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