THE OLAP/OLTP CULTURAL CONFLICT

FORUM II THE OLAP/OLTP CULTURAL CONFLICT Ron Allan Georgetown University allanr@georgetown.edu

Sean Kelly: Required • A New Mindset TV vs Radio

OLTP OnLine Transaction Processing • Technology of Live Systems • Stands for Regimes That are: • Tightly Controlled • Hierarchal • Schedules • Milestones • Deadlines • Detailed Planning

OLAP OnLine Analytical Processing • Iterative Approach • Design is Part of the Process • Your Done When the User Stops Calling

OLTP CULTURE Core Business Systems Have Become: • Larger • More Powerful • More Complex • More Integrated Requiring at the Detail Level: • Close Co-ordination • Conformity • Minimization of Creativity

OLTP CULTURE (cont) The Technologies are so Complex: • Difficult to Grasp at Detail Level • Leads to a Culture of: • Planning • Milestones • Deadlines • Providing a Common Vocabulary for Implementers and Users • Wisdom of Secretary Rumsfeld

OLTP CULTURE (cont) Culture of Procedures has Stood the Test of Time • Forty Year Geometric Expansion of • Computerized Processes • Data Stored • Decomposition of Project Provides Managers with a Feeling of Control

OLTP CULTURE (cont) SOME DOWNSIDES • Techies Regard Procedures as Drudgery • Breeds a Culture of Control • Breeds Passive Control • Experimentation Deemed Inappropriate • Conflicts with Requirement for Timely Decisions

OLTP CULTURE (cont) OLTP PROCESS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE: • Implementers are Presented With a Design!! • Already Worked Out • Tested and Refined by Use • Requiring Little Additional Creativity

OLAP CULTURE • Characterized by What It Is Not… • i.e., Not Buttoned Down • Bite Off Small Parts – Partial Projects • Involved Users Test Results as They Occur • Smaller the Bites, the More Rapid the Adjustments • Each Partial Project Informs the Next Partial Project–and Overall Strategy

OLAP CULTURE (cont) OLAP Projects are Characterized by the Way They End • Battle of Britain • “We Got Up One Day and the Germans Didn’t Come” • OLAP Projects are Done When the Phone Stops Ringing

OLAP CULTURE (cont) OLAP Approach is Not a Non-Methodology • Users must Review Designs for Completeness • Typical Business Questions Must Be Answered • One Type of Query Not Favored over Another • Methodology Structured to Permit Evolution of Design

OLAP TECHNOLOGY • Data Warehousing is an Iterative Process; • The Users Must Be Involved • OLTP Systems Keep Records • OLAP Systems Provide Information

OLAP TECHNOLOGY THE FIELD OF DREAMS SCENARIO • OLAP Systems provide Info for the Non-Routine Parts of User’s Work • If an OLAP System is Not Intuitive, Users Won’t Use It • Just Because You Build It Doesn’t Mean That They Will Come

OLTPvs OLAP “Give Us Your Requirements…” • OLTP: Performs Tasks that are • Structured • Routine • OLAP: Performs Tasks that are • Wide in Varity • Non-specific • Not Contemplated at Design Time

OLTPvs OLAP OLAP REQUIREMENTS DEVELOPMENT • Often a Waste of Time • If Enough is Known to Develop Detailed Requirements… • Its Probably not an OLAP Project

OLTPvs OLAP DETAILED PLANNING OF OLAP PROJECTS • Tends to be Self-Defeating Because… • “Planning” by Staff and Users Generates New knowledge, Which… • Makes Plan Obsolete, Then… • Plan Can’t be Revised without Several Meetings

OLTPvs OLAP WORKING TO THE RULE • Technically Sophisticated Users Reluctant to Play, because… • They Fear that IT will Work to the Requirement, then… • Declare Victory, and… • Go On to Next Project, Leaving… • User Requirements Met, but… • User Needs Unmet

OLAP:DESIGN & ITERATION • Physical Design is Crucial • Effective and Robust Design can’t be Planned… • It Must be Iterated

SEAN KELLY ONCE MORE: The physical database design for the specific industry is THE most Important DW Component. If you don’t have a good PHYSICAL DESIGN, NOTHING else can make up for it: • Not the RDBMS engine • Not the front-end tool • Not the data extract tool • Not technical ingenuity • Not the data loading utilities • Not more processors • Not the business vision • Not even consultants !

OLAP:DESIGN & ITERATION • Concept Well Known in Data Warehouse Community • Why are so Many Projects Struggling? • Creeping OLTPization of OLAP Projects

OLAP:THE HISTORY • Early Data Warehouse Developers Were Left Alone • OLTP Managers Assumed it would Fail • Irrational Desire for Useful Information

OLAP:THE SUCCESS • Some Data Warehouse Projects Succeeded • OLTP Managers Feared DW Success without Their Assistance – and Worse… • Not Under Their Control • Doug Hackney: Caché Loosened Purse Strings

OLAP:EXECUTIVE SPONSORSHIP • OLTP Managers Asserted Control by Imposing Procedures • Sean Kelly: Executive Sponsorship Means Someone Far Enough Up the Hierarchy to Intimidate IT • Make IT Knock It Off when it Interferes with the Iterative Process

OLAP:END OF RESISTANCE • Resistance to Kimball Ended about 6 Years Ago • Accepting Kimball Did Not Lead to Accepting OLAP • Creeping OLTPization • Hofer: Competent Bureaucrats Take Over; Control the New Paradigm

OLAP:THE DECLINE • Decline in the Importance of Intuitiveness • Early Technical Selling Point: Intuitiveness • De-emphasis on Physical Model • Decline of “Push the Decision Down” to Point of Impact

OLAP:QUERY TOOL ATTITUDE • Vendor Accepts Kimball • Rejects ER Diagram • Suck Up to IT Departments • Commoditization of Product • Emphasis Shifts to Sale of Services

OLAP:WHATS TO BE DONE • OLTP Mindset will not Go Away • OLAP Practitioners Must Lead • OLTP Managers Be Brought to See that OLTP Culture is Inappropriate • Build a Little; Give Users a Little

OLAP:BE INFORMED • Know What You Know • Don’t be Wimpy • Keep Users Informed • Keep OLAP Projects in Perspective • Don’t Hype • Teach Executives the Difference between OLAP and OLTP • Wisdom of Arthur Fonzerelli

OLAP:THE NEXT GENERATION • Iterative Process Must Gain Acceptance • OLTP Managers Must become Comfortable with Iteration • OLAP Leaders will take the Majority of the Grief Because… • It is They Who Put the Ball in Play

THE END

Ron Allan Georgetown University Phone: 202-687-8967 E-mail: allanr@georgetown.edu http://www.georgetown.edu/users/allanr/

THE OLAP/OLTP CULTURAL CONFLICT