This is a follow-up to the Part 1, which can be found here.
In the previous post, we examined the three major components directly impacting MDM, specifically enterprise dimensions. People, Process and Tools (PPT). We’ll now expand on those components and how DRM solves many of the challenges associated with PPT.
To help simplify things a bit, let’s work backwards in relation with PPT. We’ll start with Tools because let’s face it, if DRM didn’t work nicely with other tools in the MDM and BI/Analytics footprint it would never garner the ROI to justify purchasing the solution.
One of DRM’s best features is its flexibility in extracting dimensions, hierarchies and attributes of the hierarchy members (also known as “nodes” for those of you who are like me and appreciate proper terminology). With DRM, long gone are the days of requiring highly technical resources to simply extract and disperse data. DRM offers many different types of exports; all with easy point-and-click configuration options. Need to export a hierarchy’s nodes with multiple attributes in a column format? Need to export the hierarchy in a tabbed format (showing the graphical relationship between parents and descendents)? Need to export a log of all the transactions that have occurred in the system to support audit requirements? Or maybe you need to export data directly to a database table? DRM can do it all!
Ok, I know what you’re thinking… Show me!
Let’s say we have a requirement to provide a file with the members of the Product dimension with various attributes such as SKU#, warehouse location, and weight.
Below is what our hierarchy looks like in DRM:
First, we select the Export task and create a new export:
We’ll then choose the type of export (Hierarchy type for our example):
Next we’ll select the source of the data; the Product hierarchy in this case:
Select the properties/attributes:
And finally, we set the output options:
Below is our output file (opened with Excel), with a header for each column and the data listed:
Again, this could be exported to database table if so desired. It’s simply a matter of configuring the connection to the database table and mapping the DRM properties to the table fields:
So, to summarize DRM’s exporting flexibility allows for the following:
1. Exporting in a variety of formats
2. Ability to export to both flat files and database tables
3. Ease of use and configuration for business users
Stay tuned for the next post as we expand on the capabilities of DRM.
