Case Studies of Data Warehousing Failures Essay

Case Studies of Data Warehousing Failures - Essay Example ent), lack of focus or difficulty in identifying the scope of the Project (a business case for the data warehouse not clearly defined), poor data warehousing tool selection process, unproven technology (new or inappropriate software), internal politics within organization, end user involvement/participation in determining information requirements, incomplete functionality, unsatisfied end users, data warehouse tool implemented too complicated for users, below standard or unacceptable performance, not expandable once made, quality of report and data, management not recognizes the benefits of data warehousing, cost is considered instead of project, inappropriate data sources, etc. The three most important factors for successful implementation of any data warehouse project are; well defined scope, reasonable deadline and high-level management support and end users involvement/participation. The scope of the project should be defined clearly by making business case to avoid change of scope during the implementation phase. The deadline should be reasonable because extended deadline ultimately increases the cost of the project (over budget). The most important of all is that the high-level management knows the benefits of the project for providing support. Lacking any of these, results in data warehousing failure. There are several things common in all the case studies. These are high-level management support, the short-term focus of top management (lack of focus), unreasonable deadline, end user involvement, inappropriate tool selection, and internal politics. Auto Guys, Complicated Systems, North American Federal Government and High-Tech Company; all lacks management support for their data warehousing project. In case of North American Federal Government, to acquire the right technology, a formal approval process took almost a year. All the organizations have not clear focus for their data-warehousing project. For example, for North American Federal Government,