It’s About Partnerships: How Evolving Partnerships Have Built a Warehouse

Presentation Summary

Libby Barlow; University of Houston

It's About Partnerships: How Evolving Partnerships Have Built a Warehouse

When the need for a data warehouse preceded both the understanding of what a warehouse is and the funding to develop it, the University of Houston got the project off the ground with a single internal sponsor outside of the Information Technology staff. This presentation traces the development of a warehouse environment highlighting the shifting partnerships that have built it and will continue to support it. Partners include the initial sponsor, business owners, data experts, technical staff, IT staff, and the budget office. We will delve into the governance concept originally created to marginalize IT’s role and subsequently to fence in warehouse resources within IT. We will also outline the “pay to play” resource model that has grown the warehouse to multiple databases with multiple business owners, and we will discuss the use of license management and an alternate presentation tool to extend accessibility to the needs of multiple constituencies. Finally, we will speak to how business owners work outside of their data silos on common data elements and to create linkages across tables and cubes in the warehouse.