Posts Tagged ‘agile bi’

When it comes to choosing the right Cloud BI platform, there is usually a trade off between governance and centralization on one hand and agility on the other. BI software vendors like Tableau and Qlik, that are relatively newer to the game than traditional BI platforms, have changed the rules of what defines a better BI […]

Last time, I posted about how BI/DW accelerator and framework tools need to be used with care, and not as a substitute for solid requirements analysis. This time, I want to debunk a misconception that can be framed by the following question: Will Agile processes speed up my BI development timeline?   I see many situations […]

A common complaint about data warehousing/BI has been time to market.   The investment in real months required to stand up analytics is just too large. Descriptions of the actual time required vary (depending on who you ask, and what their interests are) from a year to 24 months. The numbers are open to debate, but […]

Having recently come off a string of Agile BI projects, I’ve made some observations about factors which can potentially hamstring such efforts. Great (but Unrealistic) Expectations First, Agile is not a silver bullet. It will help deal with rapidly changing requirements, and it will get “something” together, rather than “nothing”. But Agile suits some situations […]

Several years ago, when I started using QlikView (QlikTech’s flagship product), I had a strong preference for more traditional BI tools and platforms, mostly because I thought that QlikView was just a visualization tool. But after some first-hand experience with the tool, any bias I had was quickly dissipated and I’ve been a QlikView fan […]

I have had the opportunity to provide advisory services for a number of clients in the past few years.  I am surprised at the large number of these clients that do not have a BI Strategy and do not feel that a BI Strategy provides value.  In talking with our clients I have noticed a […]

I recently investigated a few Enterprise Search tools.  After attending some training, I was really excited to learn more about the software and what Enterprise Search is all about.  I wanted to use this blog as an opportunity to share some information that I have obtained and present my opinion on where this industry is […]

Data model patterns identify common model structures and define how they should look and interact with other parts of the model.  PowerDesigner can assist in this process by automating the setup of objects (tables, columns, mappings) based on the pattern to be applied and ensuring consistency through the use of custom model checks. Stereotypes Anyone […]

In its most basic form, deploying a data model means simply applying the model directly to a database via ODBC or a DDL script.  But that neglects much of that value in your model beyond the physical structure. Here are the steps in our model deployment process.  We’ve scripted these in the build tool, but […]

We’re constantly looking for ways to streamline the BI development process.  Data mapping (source to target) can be a complex and cumbersome process due to: Ongoing model changes – the target moves! Poor (or “loose”) communication between those mapping and the development team. Lack of consistency in collecting and documenting mappings (Excel, I’m looking at […]

To build a custom plugin in groovy, do this.  I know this seems redundant, but it wasn’t as clear as it should have been. 1. Create a project directory.  Just a plain ol’ directory. Wherever you like. 2. Add the source file subdirectories: src\main\groovy\…  (with the package path you’d like to use.  We have src\main\groovy\com\perficient\gradle) […]

Quick tip of the day: Use Gradle plugins to package up functionality for easy reuse.  For example, we developed a simple “database” plugin to handle the common tasks associated with building and upgrading a database.  Things like: build – create a new database from scratch. Runs the CREATE DATABASE and sqlcmd’s the full DDL upgrade […]