How To Evaluate The Software For your Data Warehouse
When a company evaluates software to use in conjunction with their data warehouse, they goal should be purchase software which falls under the best of breed category. The first step in successfully evaluating software for your data warehouse is to do the analysis yourself. You should never rely on someone who is not a part of your organization..
Every technology that you come across will need to be evaluated carefully in order to be of great benefit to you and your organization. You have a greater knowledge of the needs of your company, and this knowledge is superior to an entity that lies outside your organization.
Another problem with dealing with outsiders is that they may have biases. If they have a vested (financial) interest in a specific product, they may urge you to purchase it without carefully evaluating rather or not it is truly the product your company needs. The only thing that outsiders should be used for is their knowledge of the things that you can use to evaluate the product. Another important tip of finding good software for your data warehouse is to decide whether or not you have technology within the company that can perform the task. This is crucially important, because you don’t want to waste money on something you don’t need.
A number of high quality data warehouses systems can be successfully built without having to purchase outside tools. Any time your purchase new technology, it will place a type of burden on your workers in which they are forced to deal with it. If possible, it is much better to use existing technology rather than spend money on new software, software that you workers will need to learn how to use. Because of the costs involved with data warehouse software, you can afford to place a high emphasis on the information provided by the software vendor. You should also get references from reputable sources that can give you an idea of the quality of the product.
Getting references is important, because it allows you to get practical information about the software you’re evaluating. Many business executives find that there are a number of operational issues that they find when they begin seeking references. Many of the reference sources you will encounter have spent a great deal of time evaluating the software, and they will tell you about problems that the vendor would "forget" to mention. This information can allow you to make intelligent decisions on whether or not a software product is worth your money. When you talk to the reference sources, you will want to ask them for websites or other places where you can find useful information on the product.
When you want to see the data warehouse software in action, the vendor will often require you to look at a demo. One could way to evaluate this software is to create a test case, and have each vendor follow it. This is very important, because it will allow you to make comparisons between the software products. Making comparisons between them will allow you to find advantages and disadvantages among them. It should also be noted that most vendors will not want to do this unless you are interested in spending a great deal of money.
When you read some technology magazines, you will often here of some pundits talking about the benefits of using certain data warehouse products. My advice to you is to be cautious in their endorsements, as many of these individuals are paid by the software vendors to praise the benefits of using their software packages. One good way to evaluate a software program is to analyze the stock of the company, as well as the industry as a whole.
This will give you an unbiased view of the company’s performance. The software maintenance is also very important. Many data warehousing tools will work with a device called a data dictionary. Find out what will happen if the fields in the data dictionary are changed.
One thing that should be emphasized is that there is no such thing as a perfect software product. Each one will have its own trade offs, and your company must be prepared. Any company who thinks they can "have their cake and eat it to" are in for a rude awakening.
