The balance sheet of most any Forbes Global 2000 company would show entries for assets such as property, cash, equipment, and accounts receivable. Unfortunately, one item that is not seen in the asset section of the balance sheet is data.

This is the first of two columns on Data Warehouse Risks. The columns are excerpted from “Data Warehouse Project Management” by Sid Adelman and Larissa Moss, published by Addison Wesley. This article will provide you with the ability to identify the potential risks within your project and to address those risks before they become major problems.

In a prior article, I attempted to outline the reasons for creating a vision for data governance within an organization. Since many strategic thinkers recommend developing a mission statement as well as a vision, it would be good to examine mission statements and their purposes.

Building an analytical solution can be an arduous task. There are many factors that are required in order to deliver a successful solution. It takes good planning, a solid architecture and design, good setup and usage of your front end delivery tools, and validation that the data you have retrieved is accurate.