Nikki Carder
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REWARDS
Both my resume and portfolio benefited when serendipity provided me with a valuable practical experience. As I was beginning Mel Oyler's LIS 540, (Information Systems, Architectures and Retrieval), I was given the opportunity to participate in the development of my company’s new data warehouse (The Regence Group Data Warehouse, Reporting & Decision Support – REWARDS). Most of the data architecture was complete by the time I started on the project, but the metadata and documentation were not, and budget limitations were delaying further work in that area. My voluntary labor enabled the warehouse to move into production with more complete support materials. The specific task presented to me was to identify and fill the gaps in the warehouse’s data dictionary. This work was outside the scope of my regular job, and, at the time, beyond my academic knowledge as well.
As I discovered immediately, my task was more involved than just filling in the blanks. Before I could even begin, I had to acquire an understanding of the warehouse’s organization and become familiar with its data sources. One advantage of simultaneously taking LIS540 was that I was learning the language and principles of databases, which helped enormously. When I looked at a data element, I could actually understand and use the derivation rule or mapping. I could identify joins, track their sources and see the practical results. It was an excellent practical application of what I was learning in 540.
As I indicated, the dictionary’s organization and formats were already established when I began working on the project. At the highest levels, the dictionary and the database are organized by Business Subject Area. Within subject area are the tables, which reflect various facets of that business area, and within the tables are the smallest building blocks of the warehouse – the data elements. The data element level includes definitions, affiliated code sets, and data sources. It was at this lowest warehouse level that the bulk of my work occurred.
I spent the first several weeks of my involvement familiarizing myself with the contents, language, and structure of the warehouse. Then, before I initiated any effort to complete the dictionary, I had to identify its holes. To find the holes, I used an extract, which I was able to sort one table at a time and identify empty dictionary fields. An excerpt of that extract can be seen in this Rewards Extract example.
One of the main reasons I was offered the chance to work on the warehouse project was that I have a broad understanding of the business it supports. This knowledge, along with what I was learning in 540, gave me a fairly good foundation for researching information, but also made me a little overconfident. It soon became clear that I didn’t have a full understanding of the project's scope. When I began discussing this work with the project director, I estimated that it would take me approximately one month. (I was to work on the data warehouse on my own time – in addition to attending classes in the evening, and, as much as my regular job allowed, during normal work hours.) I absolutely didn’t understand the magnitude of what I had committed to!
My efforts were on the warehouse were voluntary, and a bonus for the project managers, so fortunately I was able to extend my timeline and complete the bulk of the work they needed. The project left me with some significant new experience and some important “lessons learned.” The opportunity to participate in the construction of a large-scale corporate data warehouse, in even a minor capacity, was an invaluable learning experience for me, and it enhanced LIS 540 by presenting me with a real-world application of its principles.
The experience reaffirmed the value of investigating and fully understanding a new task before estimating the effort necessary to complete it. Like the dilemma of the library patron who isn’t sure what question to ask, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, because I had never worked on a project of this type or magnitude.
Though the context is different, this project also validated Joe Jane’s adage – “communicate early and often.” After some initial struggling to identify answers independently, I learned that an early phone call or visit to another team member could save a significant amount of time. Very often, they could readily identify resources that I wasn’t even aware of.
Unfortunately, because the Regence Data Warehouse is proprietary, and corporate security makes it unavailable outside of the intranet, I can't provide a link to it. However, I’m including an assortment of screens from the warehouse below to give you a visual concept of the final product. (I can demonstrate the warehouse from my worksite if necessary.)