Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB) Weblog

There's a good read over on the Rittman-Mead Consulting blog on End-to-End data quality. OWB would be a good tool to implement parts of the solution they have in mind-- to do an initial DQ assessment, and to do cleansing during load. And DQ reporting on both the sources and the target system is certainly doable, using data auditors and your favorite BI application, to prove to the powers above that the problem isn't yours.

Input validation is where OWB's answer is a bit less obvious, though. Enforcing the OWB DQ rules during input validation is doable, I think, but you have to be creative. Here's how I'd go about it...

A request that we get frequently enough to comment on is, "How do I use OWB to move data between Salesforce.com and my Oracle database?" Data warehouse customers in particular seem to be running into this one.

Usually, the person asking expects that some kind of web service call will be the solution of choice. Perhaps it would be, in some arcane cases. There are also ODBC drivers for Salesforce.com, which OWB could connect to with similar results to other ODBC data sources. (Of course, Oracle support won't help with those third-party components.)

However, bulk data movement is the most common case, and there are tried and true ways of doing that without the latest SOA secret sauce.

The moving parts of the simple-enough solution are:

Sometimes this blog is very into nitty-gritty, tactical technical suggestions, but sometimes (like when you’re coming up on the end of the week and tired of your to-do list) it’s useful to raise your head and look a few years out at changes in the industry that will probably eventually impact your day-to-day concerns. I tend to look at cloud computing at times like this and try to see how it will affect data integration and data quality.

Recently I ran across this blog post on cloud computing, BI and DI from the Open Group Cloud Computing summit:

A few observations around BI and cloud computing from the show in attending other talks, and just in the hallways over coffee.

First, cloud computing can't not progress forward without a clear data integration and business intelligence strategy, if you ask those in charge.   The core questions are:  How will my information get back into my enterprise when I need it, and better yet, how can I consider data stuck in the cloud in the context of my BI requirements?

Second, security.   Enough said.   

Finally, cultural issues around leveraging platforms we don't own.

Cloud computing is not evil, indeed it's an opportunity to leverage databases-as-a-service, and even information-as-service, at a price point unheard of.   However, you need to place all of this in the context of a cloud computing strategy that specially addresses data security, BI, MDM, and data integration.   

I would like to know how the OWB user community is thinking about such issues as cloud and SAAS become inescapable parts of our environment. I’d also like to shamelessly promote the LinkedIn group the OWB team started on data integration and data quality offerings from Oracle, and foster discussion there.

So:

• if you use OWB or just follow Oracle data integration offerings, come join the OWB LinkedIn group. It will put you in contact with hundreds of Oracle and outside people who work with or work on Oracle Warehouse Builder and our other data integration offerings. (There are also job listings and recruiters in the group, which may or may not interest you.)
• If you’re interested in these topics, come join our discussion over at LinkedIn.

Hope to see you there…

While the formal sessions at Oracle Open World provide a lot of valuable information, sometimes the choicest nuggets turn up at the Unconference sessions, where Oracle employees, customers and partners can delve into the topics that interest them most in an interactive forum.

For OWB customers the best chance to see OWB 11.2 at OpenWorld will be an Unconference session conducted jointly by Oracle DW and BI guru Mark Rittman and data integration product manager Antonio Romero.

The real treat, though, will be the special guest appearance by OWB architect David Allan! Through this blog, David has become one of the public faces of OWB and his knowledge of how to get the most out of the tool has been invaluable to internal and external users.

Planned topics include:

• ODI-based code template mapping capabilities
• Integration of Warehouse Builder with OBI-EE
• Right-time Data Warehousing: CDC, Trickle-feed mappings

...but since we're in Unconference mode, we can do a little off-roading, time permitting, as the audience demands it.

Schedule details: Wednesday, October 14, Moscone West, Third Floor, Overlook II.

While this is a bit unstructured, it helps to have a preliminary headcount. To register, you'll need to take a second to join our LinkedIn Group if you haven't already. Click here to register!