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Seeking Enlightenment with Data Shadow Systems
Business
groups are empowered by knowledge -- and knowledge
comes, in part, from having access to accurate
and timely information. It is generally up to
IT groups to make that happen.
But
it doesn't always work out that way.
Quite
often, business groups take matters into their
own hands because they're not getting the data
they need and business decisions are impacted.
Perhaps their requests are too low in the IT group's
project queue. Or maybe they simply haven't been
able to effectively collaborate with IT to create
a solution that meets their needs. Worse yet,
if they are not a Fortune 500 company, there might
not even be any IT resources available to them.
Whatever the reason, their solution is to create
a departmental data shadow system.
A
data
shadow system is group of spreadsheets and
customized databases -- often Microsoft Access
and statistical databases -- created by business
groups to gather data for their users. Data shadow
systems support business processes such as budgeting,
forecasting or other reporting tasks. They include
data from enterprise applications, data warehouses,
external sources and printed or online reports.
Collectively,
these systems support many business users in an
enterprise. Often, these users are also using
the reporting from their enterprise application
and the business intelligence (BI) setup from
a data warehouse, but they do their "real"
reporting and analysis from the data shadow systems.
This
approach is both good and bad. Initially, it's
good for the business group because they're finally
getting the information they need to contribute
to the health and success of the business. And
getting information from a data shadow system
is fast -- a business analyst has the ability
to make urgent requests for information a priority.
And, while techies may scoff at the use of Microsoft
Excel and Access for data analysis, using these
familiar tools can make business users comfortable
and more independent.
So
what's bad about data shadow systems? It depends
on how they're used and integrated into the enterprise's
overall BI architecture. One of the biggest weaknesses
is if the data shadow system is a silo, it will
promote the creation of data that's no longer
consistent with other data being used in the enterprise.
In order to achieve a high level of quality, data
has to be viewed from an enterprise and holistic
perspective. Data may be correct within each data
silo, but the information will not be consistent,
relevant or timely when viewed across the entire
enterprise. To make matters worse, each report
or analysis interprets the data differently, so
even when the numbers start off the same in each
silo, the end results will not be consistent.
Inconsistent,
inaccurate data will certainly tarnish the image
of a data shadow system for business users. But
they'll also feel the strain of creating and managing
their own departmental systems. Ideally, they
should focus on their "real" jobs and
spend less time on the care and feeding of the
data shadow system. And when the people most experienced
with using an undocumented shadow system move
on to other jobs, those left behind have no tools
to help them learn how it works.
Data
shadow systems are a fact of life in companies
of all sizes. While they don't offer an optimal
solution from a technology standpoint, they have
many business-oriented benefits that cannot be
ignored. Keeping the needs of business users in
mind, it's possible to replace or rework these
shadow systems with solutions that dovetail with
a company's overall data
warehousing architecture.
DW/BI
Architect and ETL Developer Wanted
Athena IT Solutions is interviewing DW/BI architects
and ETL developers. See
our job descriptions for details.
Summer
Training Schedule
What
better way to finish off a day of data warehouse
or BI training
than  going
to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park?
If
you're in the Boston area or want to make the
trip, see our training schedule below. Don't want
to travel? (Or just don't like the Sox?) All
these courses and more are offered at your site,
and we'll even customize them for you.
These
courses are offered at the classrooms
of our partner DataSense Solutions.
| Public Business
Intelligence and Data Warehousing Training Schedule |
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I
hope you have enjoyed this issue and will feel
free to let
me know what you think.
And
if you have suggestions for future topics for
this newsletter or the Data
Doghouse blog, feel free to share them.
Rick
Sherman, Athena IT Solutions
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