Cost of Services Related to Data Mart Implementation 1

[Guest_imported]

In research of building data marts, I have encountered the costs of the tools
(e.g., OLAP, ETL) associated with the project implementation, but have not
seen anything in dollars about a consulting company's services. What
should you expect in terms of services for requirements gathering (both
business questions and technical) and testing, implementation, etc..I'd like
to know a ballpark figure that some of you have encountered in your experience
with the subject.

 

[DWguy]

Have you done in any research on the "business value" costs of building data marts? Like... not being able to answer business questions/queries due to disparate data? Or the cost of replicating data in various marts so business questions can be answered?

Try this Gartner article on DMarts & Data Warehousing:

http://www.teradatalibrary.com/pdf/ar1505.pdf

 

[walkerci]

This is a really tough question. There are so many variables involved:

Number and type of data sources
Complexity of transformations
Database engine
Which ETL tool is used
HW platform
DW skill level and experience of team members
Timeliness of user and IT support
Data volumes
and so on....

Typically the process goes like this:

1. A very experienced DW professional (preferably knowledgable about your industry) spends 1-2 days gathering information about your organization and your needs.

2. That same person then scopes out an Assessment Project with costs, and submits a proposal. (Another 1-2 days, sometimes more)

3. If you like the Assessment Project proposal, you proceed with it. Assessments can run anyway from 1-2 weeks to 6 months. The deliverable from an Assessment documents at a high level what you need to do, strategy, rough costs and benefits, ROI, business needs to be met, etc.

4. At this point, there is enough information to create a
proposal for implementation of the DW project with timelines and costs.

I hope this was helpful.

Chuck