End-user Access Tools
- High performance is achieved by pre-planning the requirements for joins, summations, and periodic reports by end-users (where possible).
- There are five main groups of access tools:–
- Data reporting and query tools
- –Application development tools
- –Executive information system (EIS) tools
- –Online analytical processing (OLAP) tools
- –Data mining tools
Data Warehouse Access
Both data warehouses (e.g., comprehensive, enterprise-wide, etc.) and data marts (e.g., subject or application-specific) must be accessible to a wide variety of users to satisfy their information needs. In general, the user tools for accessing data warehouses and data marts have historically been placed in one of two main categories:
- Personal-productivity tools (e.g., spreadsheets, word processors, statistical packages and graphics tools) allow users to manipulate and present data on individual PCs. Developed for stand-alone environments, personal productivity tools address applications requiring desktop manipulation of small volumes of warehouse data.
- Data query and reporting tools deliver warehouse-wide data access through simple interfaces that hide the SQL language from end users. These tools are designed for list-oriented queries, basic drill-down analysis and report generation. Though they provide a view of simple historical data, these tools do not address the need for multidimensional reporting, analysis, modeling and planning. They are also not capable of computing sophisticated metrics that users need to understand what is driving the Business.
Defining Data Warehousing User Access Requirements
Profile the Users
A data warehousing system (i.e., data warehouse, data mart, decision support system, data web) supports the needs of many different types of users, such as executives, line managers, business analysts, and administrative staff. The different user types will have different levels of experience using computers and computer systems. The different levels of users will have different analysis, reporting, and data presentation needs. Understanding who the users are will ensure that these needs are met.
Identify user groups, the number of users in each group, classes, and work locations, and briefly describe the role of the user group. A Workgroup Chart can be used to profile the different user groups.
For each user group, identify the class of business queries (e.g., verification of business, analysis of change, basic exception reporting, intensive reporting, and causal analysis) that they run, how often they run the queries, who generally requests the queries, and who generally runs the queries.
The business queries were grouped into major classes based on their complexity when they were initially identified. This classification of queries helps determine the types of end-user tools required to analyze and report on the data.
Define Analysis Requirements
For each user group, define the types of tools needed to analyze data (e.g., spreadsheets, statistical analyzers, and multidimensional analytical processors) by mapping the functionality of the different end-user tools to the classes of queries and users.
Define Reporting and Presentation Requirements
For each user group, define the types of tools needed to present the results of the analysis (e.g., information-rich reports, charts, and multimedia presentation tools) by mapping the functionality of the different end-user tools to the classes of queries and users.
Define Special User Interface Requirements
Identify if any special user interface requirements exist, such as equipment or screen designs to support special needs (e.g., physically-challenged staff), special language and characters support, voice entry, or touch screens.
