Data Warehousing, the Project Manager's View

Data Warehousing, the Project Manager's View

An interview with Mark Valente, Imagine Computing, Inc.
Data Systems Specialists

I’m networked, computerized and profitable. So how come I feel like I’m running for my life?

The feeling is called "techno lag" and millions of businesspeople are experiencing it. They’ve scrambled to buy the hardware and software that will keep them competitive, but every time they turn around, there’s some new wrinkle to deal with: Intranets segue to extranets and VPN (virtual private networks); data basing and processing segue to data mining and warehousing.

Each new development means something extra to factor into business decisions. And as competitors begin to tout their new web sites, or electronic commerce capabilities or ability to "mine" vast amounts of data, running for one’s life seems to become a fitting description of how many businesspeople feel.

"The problem is that hardware and software by themselves can’t do anything without a conscious plan behind them," says Mark Valente, Imagine Computing, Inc., a Danville, CA-based networking and data warehousing expert and CBC affiliate. "But it can be overwhelming to be surrounded by sophisticated tools that you somehow have to fit in to an already hectic business."

As a result, says Valente, what often happens is that a company hurriedly does the minimum necessary to set up a network or web site. "It will do this without ever determining how it can best use the network or coming up with a purpose for the web site other than flying the flag on the web because a competitor is."

And that’s what leads to the sinking feeling of "techno lag." "You’ve made all the right moves in terms of what technology you own, but at the back of your mind you know that you still don’t quite understand how or why they’re the right moves," says Valente.

The solution is fairly simple. "You ask somebody from the outside to observe your business processes, then design uses for your hardware and software that best help those processes," says Valente. "That person doesn’t even have to know exactly what it is you do - Do you make widgets? Run an executive search firm? Sell jewelry? - all he or she needs to see is how you get, use and distribute information. Once that person knows how and where the information bottlenecks are, the passage from ‘techno lag’ to ‘techno savvy’ is pretty fast."

Where do you look? "Ask a trusted non-competitor or someone in your field who’s not in your territory to name the best qualities they’ve found in any good networking or web site design people they’ve worked with. You’ll see a pattern emerge, and with that pattern you can form a list of questions to ask when you go look for your own consultant. Among those questions:

1. Breadth of knowledge: How much does the consultant know about networking, data basing and data warehousing? Here you are looking for a consultant’s record of previous jobs and responsibilities, schools or seminars attended, published papers and clients.

2. Which industries has he or she consulted with in the past? A consultant with a broad range of clients has a global approach to networking or web design that will work well under most circumstances. On the other hand, a consultant with a specialty in just one industry may be ideal if that industry is the same as the one you’re in. His or her knowledge of the industry and experience with what businesses like yours are doing with technology can be an advantage.

3. What can the consultant show you as proof of expertise, in terms of web sites or recommendations from companies he or she has consulted with?

4. Can the consultant program? Your site requirements may need someone who can write programs on an as-needed basis to customize your network or web site. Find out how a consultant intends to customize your processes if the question comes up. Self? Subcontract?

5. What kinds of questions does the consultant ask you at a first meeting? Do the questions attempt to find out your concerns, goals and processes? Or do they seem to jump quickly to matters of pay or discussions of expensive services that are presented as solutions?

6. How does the consultant want to work with you? What you are looking for here is the consultant’s degree of flexibility. Do you prefer an exclusive contract and to bring the consultant in-house with you? Or is periodic visitation fine with you, with the consultant working off-premise much of the time? Will the consultant guarantee industry exclusivity, either in terms of approaches to web site content or an agreement not to work for firms like years for a certain period of time?