The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit

46 Chapter 2 ■ Launching and Managing the Project/Program

business users should be reminded every so often about the iterative nature

of DW/BI development. Let them know that it’s going to evolve, just as their

business does.

Businessuser communicationisbroadcast in avariety offormats — one-page

monthly emails, newsletters, or a regularly updated web page. Regardless of

the communication medium, the message should be brief, pointed, and free

of any technical vocabulary. Involved business users should also receive the

project scope document as it is updated and republished. Finally, in addition to

written communication, the business driver and project lead should routinely

communicate informally with the business community.

Communication with Other Interested Parties

In addition to the key communication constituencies just described, several

other audiences should be kept in the loop.

General Executive Management

The organization’s executive team is typically briefed on high visibility initia-

tives, such as the DW/BI project. The joint business and IT sponsors typically

spearhead this briefing. You will need high level DW/BI acceptance across the

organization if it is to grow and thrive — these briefings are a start.

IT Staff Not Involved in DW/BI

Naturally, other IT professionals in the organization will be interested in

what’s happening with DW/BI. The program/project manager often provides

a monthly status briefing to other IT managers. This communication helps

ensure that the DW/BI system is integrated with other development activities.

Also, it seems that DW/BI often becomes the answer to everyone else’s

reporting problems in an IT organization, so you need to manage expectations

appropriately.

Business Community at Large

Finally, there are others within your business community who are interested

in DW/BI. Many people hear about it through non-technical publications and

other business contacts. Again, a short newsletter or web page can publicize

DW/BI news to the rest of the organization, conveying a consistent message

across the organization rather than letting the corporate rumor mill serve as

the primary source of information.

Manage the Project

In this section, we discuss techniques for keeping your DW/BI project on track

as it begins to unfold, starting with the team kickoff, through monitoring status

Manage the Project 47

and managing scope, and finally, managing expectations and recognizing

warning signs. Many of these concepts are rooted in basic project management

techniques. However, DW/BI projects have a few unique characteristics that

cause some of these concepts to warrant additional discussion:

Cross-functional implementation team. The sheer number of play-

ers with varying responsibilities in a DW/BI project drives the need to

monitor status closely.

Iterative development cycle. Development of the DW/BI environ-

ment never ends. This causes a greater need for communication to keep

everyone in sync, issue/change tracking for future enhancements, and

detailed project documentation to support an evolving team.

Inevitable data issues. DW/BI projects are extremely vulnerable to

unexpected data issues which wreak havoc on anyone’s best laid project

plans. This is why we will repeatedly hammer on the theme of data

profiling as early as possible in the design of each data pipeline from a

candidate data source.

Elevated visibility. Organizational expectations of a DW/BI system

typically run high, so proactive communication is required to keep them

in check.

We assume you are generally familiar with basic project management

concepts; however, the basics are often forgotten or ignored. We review key

activities at a high level, focusing on the unique aspects of managing a DW/BI

project whenever possible.

Conduct the Project Team Kickoff Meeting

The DW/BI project officially begins with a project team kickoff meeting. The

purposeistogettheentireprojectteamonthesamepageintermsofwherethe

project stands and where it plans to go. Attendees should include the coaches,

members of the core project team, and all specialty players if possible. A

separate launch meeting, described in Chapter 3, will be held for the business

community.

As illustrated in the sample agenda in Figure 2-4, the meeting begins with

a brief introduction by the business sponsor, who describes the overall goals

for the project and its business relevance. From there, the project manager

assumes responsibility for the remainder of the meeting. Project team roles

and responsibilities are discussed. The project plan is presented at a very high

level, probably without estimated effort and due dates, and general project

management expectations are reviewed. Finally, the next steps are identified.

The project manager typically compiles a project kickoff packet for distri-

bution at the meeting, including copies of the project scope document, project