I read "Data Modeling for the Business" by Hoberman, Burbank and Bradley this week.  It's an excellent read that I recommend and I will have a book review up here on the Network soon.

Page 120 sparked something that I thought I'd blog about.  It says "if you tell the sponsor that this initiative will help improve the company's marketing program effectiveness by making sure that we have correct customer information, and that all departments are sharing this information for their corporate-wide initiatives, you are likely to get some interest (and funding!)."

While I agree with the sentiment of aligning initiatives with the business goals, there is another part of the story I wanted to interject.  The problem in gaining interest may not be in the alignment.  Sponsors may agree that doing the project (in this case, data modeling) well will achieve some important business goals.  However, the problem may be that they do not believe that the people bringing the idea are well equipped to EXECUTE the project appropriately to achieve the desired results.

The point is to not only align projects, but also to convey the capability to deliver on the promise. 

Join me next Thursday as I talk about the Hottest Issues in Oracle Business Intelligence.

Abstract:

Oracle Corporation (Oracle) is undoubtedly one of the market leaders in business intelligence technology.  With tools and products for just about every business function and problem, Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) offers something for your entire enterprise.

But with so many options available, what's a customer to do?  How does one make sense of Oracle Business Intelligence?

Leveraging that experience, William has put together a highly informative webinar for this spring on The Hottest Issues in OBI!

This complimentary, 60-minute webinar is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2009 from 1pm to 2pm Central.  During the session, William will a range of OBI-related topics.  Those include:

• Oracle's BI and EPM product evolution
• Oracle BI applications:  What do you really get?
• OBIEE+, OBI applications and Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM):
  What are the differences and which is right for your business?

With the economy tightening, one benefactor has been syndicated information.  Many companies, in their search for additional revenue streams, are now selling their data to the syndicated marketplace.  Some had not even known about the option, while others had been opposed to doing so.  Those who can do this are those with good information management.

While this adds some more data to the syndicated marketplace - for you to utilize - it also adds some more chaos to that world.  Syndicators are quickly integrating their new assets with their existing business and consumer profiles.

Consider newspapers.  The market is moving away from print content and to digital content.  Newspapers had the position of community pillar and the the storekeeper of its data.  For many years, there was little else to turn to for advertisement.  Now, there are the eBays, amazons, CraigsLists, googles, etc., and many are running with community sections now so they have global efficiencies with localization.  They are game-changers.  Newspapers may fall further behind.  One challenge has been the newspapers structure of separating the digital and print teams.  A place to begin bringing these together is at the information.