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 Independent
technology vendor assessments & selection
The
truth is that every company’s requirements
are different and all the Business Intelligence (BI) and
data integration vendors have strengths in certain areas.
Having been through numerous evaluations and purchasing
processes before, we know what its like to listen to a
vendor explain the capabilities of their products only
to find that some don’t exist once it has been
implemented. We work independently with the
major BI and data integration vendors and industry
experts to help recommend technology solutions that
meet your requirements best.
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New
and current data architecture assessments
Some companies are embarking on new BI and data
integration initiatives and others are
looking to reevaluate their current architectures, we provide
assessment services that cover both areas.
We assess both the functional and technical requirements
that we have found to be most critical in determining
the success of BI and data integration
projects. During the assessment process, first and foremost,
we listen. We don’t come in with a pre-defined
implementation plan and tailor your needs
to our plan. We listen to your requirements and
tailor our plan to meet your needs.
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| Data
quality assessments
The area of data quality is one that we have found
to be the easiest explain but the most challenging
to implement. It is not challenging to implement
from a technology perspective, but from a funding & buy-in
perspective. Everyone seems to agree that data quality
is critical to effective decision making, but no
one wants to believe that they have poor quality
data. Our data quality assessment looks at the drivers
of your business, the processes for data entry and
provides a thorough profiling of your current data.
Our deliverable focuses on the business impact as
well as the technical details to help garner the
proper level of support.
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| Data
modeling
We are continually amazed at the number data integration
methodologies and projects that have and are conducted
without proper, and in many cases, no data modeling.
Many times this occurs as projects are staffed with
technical resources that lack data modeling experience,
or even worse, no business background. Our process
starts with comprehensive logical business modeling
that helps uncover the entities, attributes relationships
and business rules that are critical to your organization.
We then develop a physical data model that becomes
the basis for your data warehouse architecture.
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| Master
data management
While the concept of master data management (MDM)
is not new, the topic is gaining renewed enthusiasm
as tools and technologies have evolved to more effectively
address the issue. Also, CRM initiatives have driven
the concept of ‘one view of the customer’ to
new heights even though they haven’t always
delivered the goods. The truth is that in most cases,
technology alone won’t deliver effective MDM.
From working within companies we have learned that
it is as much of a political challenge as a technological
challenge. We help your organization achieve effective
MDM by focusing on both the data ownership issues
as well as the technical solutions.
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| Data
Warehousing/Real-time and Batch Data Integration (EII, ETL,
EAI)
Every organization has different requirements
when it comes to data integration. In the past, and
sometimes today, data warehousing was pitched as
the silver bullet for all data integration challenges.
Unfortunately, many projects failed as organizations
discovered that they had operational or tactical
reporting and analysis requirements but the data
warehouse architecture implemented only delivered
strategic data. We embrace not only batch oriented
integration, but real-time technologies as well such
as enterprise information integration (EII) and enterprise
application integration (EAI) to ensure that the
architecture implemented meets all your reporting
and analysis requirements. We also utilize data profiling,
data quality and metadata tools to ensure that the
data is not only accurate, but contains the context
necessary to turn data into information.
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| BI
Tool Implementation
We help companies implement the BI applications that focus
the right tools on the right users. In the typical organization,
more than 75% of users only require dashboards and standard
reporting. Pushing ad-hoc, multidimensional analysis or data
mining tools on that constituency can serve to alienate the
majority of your customers. We help companies not only ‘operationalize’ BI,
but also leverage the more advanced tools only in the areas
that require that functionality. In addition, we configure
the tools for optimal performance and focus on developing standards
that ensure a consistent user experience across your organization.
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| BI
Tool Customization
In concert with helping organizations strategically rollout BI tools,
we also focus on customizing the application to expose metadata
to the users and customize the interface. Without context, data is simply data. For
almost all BI users, the only exposure to the data is through
reports and analysis. Why spend time collecting and organizing
your metadata if you’re not going to expose it to the
users where it matters most…in the BI applications.
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| Training
/ Mentoring
In order to sustain a successful BI and data integration
program the organization must be able to continue after the
consulting engagement has ended. Most vendor training programs
only teach users how to use specific tools. We teach users
not only how to use tools, but also how they can leverage those
tools to add value to the organization. We also provide mentoring
services for organizations that are new to BI and looking to
take their program to the next level.
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| Ongoing
Support Model
The demand on internal BI and data warehouse teams is not
linear and the ability to add permanent headcount to meet these
demands is sometimes impossible. Events across the organization
cause demand to fluctuate. Sales territory reorganizations,
new marketing initiatives, lean manufacturing events and clinical
studies are examples of events that many times require additional
reporting and analysis. Unfortunately, there is ever increasing
restrictions on headcount and it can take weeks for a consultant
to come up to speed on your environment to help produce a weeks
worth of reports. Datasource provides SourceDirect TM, which
allows you to contract for a certain number of hours per month
to utilize a BI resource that understands your environment.
This also allows you to budget for additional help as an operating
expense rather than having to go through the difficulty of
project approval.
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| Recruiting
It is very difficult to sustain a successful BI program without
the best internal resources. Our years of experience directing
corporate BI programs have taught us the competencies and skills
that separate a good BI resource from a great one. Let us help
you build a great BI team with our recruiters who have located
some of the best resources for companies just like yours.
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