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Mmmmm…cheesecake

February 24, 2010

I was sending a text message to my BFF Rose the other day.  She was suggesting the Cheesecake Factory for a celebratory lunch.  I wanted to respond in a way that let her know that my eyes were spinning as if I were in a cheesecake-induced, coma-like state and being led to my cheesecake master.  My response was intended to be “Mmmmmm….cheesecake”.  Thanks to my trusty iPhone auto-correct, the response came through as “Hmmmmm…cheesecake”.  Clearly a HUGE difference!  This response sent the message that I was thinking through the cheesecake option, though I had not yet settled on an opinion.  The only response that would’ve been worse was had it auto-corrected to “Ummmm…cheesecake”, which would imply, “Really?  You are thinking cheesecake?”

The whole cheesecake, text message snafu led me to think – HOW DEEP IS YOUR METADATA??  Consider the following:

  • Mmmmm = Yummy
  • Hmmmm = Thinking
  • Ummmm = Thinking

In your organization, how many variants do you have to the word Revenue?  It’s really the same thing:

  • Invoiced Revenue = Stuff we sent a bill for
  • Sales Revenue = Value of an order
  • Recognized Revenue = $$ added to the financial statements

As you start to build your data warehouse, you may run into the same issue.  How do you keep it all straight?  Certainly in a word document or in your requirements document you’ve created the definition.  But how accessible are those documents at the conclusion of the project?  How are they distributed to the end-users?  Are they in a user manual somewhere?  How often is that manual consulted?  When new reports are being created or new project teams are being established, are these documents reviewed at the beginning of the new effort?  If there is a conflict in the definition, whom should be called to resolve the dispute?  Sounding familiar??

LUCRUM partners with a great local company, Balanced Insight.  Balanced Insight makes a product called Consensusthat allows you to track your metadata, organize it, and build data structures to support it.  Imagine if you could produce a picture to show your customer how data is related.  This picture allows them to confirm that “you’ve got it!”.

Consensus also allows you to see how the terms are defined and interconnected.  Using a tool like Consensus allows you to set priorities and target the items that may “break” if a system is converted or taken off-line.  I can’t imagine gathering requirements without using this tool!!

I don’t know if it will save my next iPhone auto-correct issue, but it sure would be helpful.

-  Jodie

Written by Jodie Heflin · Filed Under Business Intelligence 

Comments

2 Responses to “Mmmmm…cheesecake”

  1. LUCRUM Incorporated on February 24th, 2010 4:14 pm

    New blog post: Mmmmm…cheesecake http://thefuturevalueofbusiness.com/mmmmm-cheesecake.htm

  2. Patrick Ryan on February 24th, 2010 4:40 pm

    RT @LUCRUMinc: New blog post: HOW DEEP IS YOUR METADATA?? http://thefuturevalueofbusiness.com/mmmmm-cheesecake.htm

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