WhereScape RED is not a cube development tool - whilst many people use WhereScape RED to build cubes over a star schema it does not replace Visual Studio BI Development Studio (BIDS), because it does not provide the same level of flexibility for cube development as a cubing tool such as BIDS.

WhereScape RED will very quickly build a SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) OLAP cube for you over a data warehouse – just drag the fact table over and ta-da you have a cube defined, a couple more clicks and it is deployed and processed. This is great for developers during the prototype phase of a star or subject area. It is of course also great for those that want to deploy cubes into production.

Often we get asked why WhereScape RED doesn’t support this feature or that in SSAS cubes. And to answer that we need to look at what we built WhereScape RED for, and how that is different from why Microsoft built BIDS - Microsoft’s cube development environment.

Straight off the bat – WhereScape RED will never offer the flexibility and functionality that BIDS offers for cube development. Why re-invent BIDS? The criteria we use to assess what features to include – will the feature help WhereScape RED users to build cubes quickly and efficiently and manage them easily as part of a data warehouse? Using these criteria we cater for 90%+ of the scenarios our customers’ meet – while always giving them the opportunity to use the full Microsoft development environment for more esoteric features.

Philosophically WhereScape RED builds cubes to provide a meta data layer and an aggregate layer over the top of a data warehouse. There are some features of SSAS that WhereScape therefore does not support – Analysis Services needs to support scenarios where there is no data warehouse, whereas we can always assume that a warehouse exists.

There are four basic options for using cubes with a data warehouse:

1. Use cubes as an aggregate layer over an extensive data warehouse – this provides a good mix of the abilities of cubes and of a relational data warehouse. WhereScape RED will build and manage cube as part of the data warehouse.
2. Use cubes extensively over a simple data warehouse. WhereScape RED can build base cubes which are then extended in BIDS. This allows WhereScape RED to integrate cube processing within the data warehouse workflow but allows the developer to use the flexibility of BIDS for cube development.
3. Use cubes within a prototype to workshop the data warehouse but actually do not use them in production. Instead use WhereScape RED to build an aggregate layer in the data warehouse to simplify support and development.
4. Use cubes directly over source systems with no data warehouse.

WhereScape RED provides immense value in all but one of these scenarios; scenario four, where there is no data warehouse, will not benefit from using WhereScape RED. WhereScape views the cubes as complementary to the data warehouse – great for exploring summarized data, but detailed reporting is more efficient in the data warehouse.

The ability to break complex processing into smaller steps for development and for troubleshooting has provided tremendous value for many organisations that have used WhereScape RED to build and manage an enterprise data warehouse. Cubes provide the capability for building extensive business rules and calculations using MDX within cubes – however the skills, complexity and support overhead becomes significant very quickly.

WhereScape RED supports building native cubes on SSAS 2000, SSAS 2005, and SSAS 2008 Analysis Services. These cubes are plain, vanilla cubes that can be opened with BIDS if they need to be edited or extended. WhereScape RED supports:

• Multiple hierarchies per dimension
• Attribute hierarchies (member properties in SSAS 2000)
• Attribute relationships (SSAS 2005+)
• Calculated members
• KPIs (SSAS 2005+)
• Linked cubes (SSAS 2005+ - Virtual cubes in SSAS 2000)
• Cube partitioning
• Processing options
• Drill-through

WhereScape RED does not (or not yet) support:

• Multi-fact cubes (this is coming, see below)
• Perspectives (this is coming)
• Translations (no plans, yet)
• Aggregate design (can be added using BIDS, or through usage optimization).
• Security (this is coming – can be added using BIDS or a script)

Value add – what WhereScape RED also brings:

• WhereScape RED allows you to manage cubes as part of the data warehouse – not some additional technology that is managed separately. If you make a change to the data warehouse you can manage that change and its effects on the cube just using WhereScape RED.
• Integrated documentation – WhereScape RED auto-generated documentation includes cubes.
• Integrated migration – you can migrate cube meta data with the rest of the data warehouse.
• Integrated workflow – you can process the cube within the same jobs that process the data warehouse.
• Integrated versioning – if you want to reverse out a change or deleted something that was useful then WhereScape RED versioning can save the day.

One topic we get asked about is how WhereScape RED combines different facts / stars into a single cube. In a mixed data warehouse / cube environment there are two base options – integrate this data in the data warehouse and build a cube over the top or combine the data in the cube.

Currently WhereScape RED uses linked cubes to join together separate physical cubes, as opposed to building a single physical multi-fact (multi-measure group) cube. Linked cubes provide equivalent analytical functionality by displaying a single cube containing a superset of measures and dimensions. Multi-fact cubes are coming to WhereScape RED as an alternative option so that the developer has a choice. WhereScape RED will continue to offer linked cubes to combine multiple subject areas in the OLAP layer as they can provide performance benefits over multi-fact cubes. This is relevant when there are many fact tables or the fact tables are large.

Another question we get is how we support cubes building from a Teradata normalized data warehouse. This can be accomplished by utilizing views to provide a dimensional interface.

In summary, WhereScape RED makes managing cubes as part of a data warehouse easy. Where a cube only infrastructure is sufficient WhereScape RED will not provide all the bells and whistles that BIDS provides. If a data warehouse provides value to an organization then WhereScape RED will offer significant value to that organization over the entire lifecycle of that data warehouse.

WhereScape participated on a TDWI webinar today. The intention of this webinar was to position the current leaders in a newly defined category of Data Warehouse Automation tools against each other. The inspiration for this webinar was a thread in TDWI’s group on Linked In about WhereScape. And to their credit TDWI saw value in running this webinar to open up this discussion from an independant standpoint.

Our bit in webinar was supposed to be a 5 minute presentation by Mark our VP of Sales with myself present to answer any technical questions. Unfortunately due to technical problems I ended up having to do the presentation as well. Now I have seen the presentation (in longer form) several times, but to give it with a moments notice was tough. If I was incoherent then I apologise. If you are new to WhereScape I would recommend viewing our online videos, asking for a sales demo or catching the next Webinar that we are running (5/19/09 1pm PDT), register for this webinar or any others at WhereScape Seminars.

The short answer to “can a techie present?”, based on feedback from colleagues, is a resounding “almost”. But don’t give up the day job.

The date for the next WhereScape RED webinar has been set…Tuesday 19th May 1-2pm PDT.  We are trying out gotowebinar, and you can register here or via the WhereScape website.  Full text for the invite is here:

Business Intelligence on a Shoestring Series

WhereScape RED Webinar

Join WhereScape for a complimentary one-hour webinar to learn how to get to value quicker on your next data mart / data warehouse project.

Tuesday 19th May, 1 - 2pm PDT (4 - 5pm EDT)

Making use of a data mart or data warehouse to improve the speed and accuracy of business decisions just makes good business sense - but why do they have to take so long to build?
 
Join us as we talk about approaches to build data marts and data warehouses faster. We will show you – live and in real-time – a working data warehouse, built from scratch, in under an hour. You’ll see methods, techniques and of course software that can speed up your next data warehouse development.

Who should attend:

Data Warehouse Developers
ETL Developers
IT Professionals
Anybody who wants more out of their BI environment!!

We announced WhereScape RED 6 at the TDWI show in Chicago last week.  This is the latest version of WhereScape’s award winning Integrated Data Warehouse Development Environment. While WhereScape aficionados have been using V6 for a while now, it is always good to officially release it. 

Thanks to Peter and Claudia for providing quotes.  The full press release (for those who like reading press releases) is below:

Portland, OR  – May 5, 2009 – WhereScape, the provider of a comprehensive Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for data warehousing that supports the entire data warehouse management life cycle, today introduced WhereScape RED 6, the latest version of the company’s software which enables organizations to ensure that the structure of their data always meets the changing needs of the business.

WhereScape RED 6 is the only software environment focused on data warehouse developers who utilize the software to build data warehouses quickly and easily adapt them to keep up with the business. WhereScape RED 6 can access source data from multiple environments, create procedural code, scripts, and tables, build cubes, schedule updates, and generate documentation in HTML format, all while maintaining existing BI front-end compatibility.

New in WhereScape RED 6 is native support for IBM DB2, giving WhereScape seamless integration with all of the leading enterprise databases including Oracle, Teradata and Microsoft SQL Server.  In addition, WhereScape RED 6 provides support for Teradata’s Linux scheduler as well as other new enhancements for DB2, Oracle and SQL Server that further expedite data warehouse development.

“In this tough economic climate, companies are operating with leaner IT staffing and decreased budgets, making WhereScape RED 6 an attractive alternative for quickly prototyping, building and deploying data marts for targeted BI solutions,” said Claudia Imhoff, President of Intelligent Solutions, Inc., a leading consultancy on data warehousing and BI technologies and strategies.  “WhereScape RED 6 can be thought of as a ‘data mart in a box’, that can be rapidly and easily adapted as business dictates.”

Vodafone Using WhereScape RED 6

Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile telecommunications company with nearly 300 million proportionate customers worldwide with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States.  Vodafone New Zealandis a long time WhereScape customer and has recently upgraded to WhereScape RED 6.  Vodafone New Zealand have a large data warehouse with over 20 terabytes and 10,000 objects. The recent upgrade to version 6 has provided them with enhancements in management and performance.

“WhereScape RED 6 provides us an affordable, quick-to-implement, data warehouse development environment that has served Vodafone well over the past several years,” said Peter Gavin, Business Intelligence Architect, Vodafone New Zealand.

“We are very pleased to be a long-time partner with Vodafone and are delighted with the ongoing role that WhereScape RED 6 plays in Vodafone’s data warehousing strategy,” added WhereScape Founder and CEO Michael Whitehead.  “Fast and inexpensive data warehouse development does not mean companies have to settle for isolated, or ‘throwaway’ project implementations.  WhereScape RED 6 ensures that organizations are not only data warehousing developing solutions quickly, but that that they are easily adaptable and integrate into the existing IT infrastructure as well.”

Pricing and Availability
WhereScape RED 6 is available immediately and priced on a per developer basis, beginning at $50,000 USD.

About WhereScape

WhereScape provides a product, WhereScape RED, which enables organizations to ensure that the structure of their data always meets the changing needs of the business. WhereScape RED is the only comprehensive Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for data warehousing that supports the entire data warehouse management life cycle, integrating source system exploration, schema design, metadata management, warehouse scheduling and enhancement into a single, simple integrated design.

More than 300 customers worldwide are using WhereScape RED on a variety of platforms. Projects performed using WhereScape RED typically come in under budget, ahead of schedule, with improved performance, greater transparency and built on more solid foundations over the systems they replace. WhereScape has head offices in Auckland, New Zealand, Portland Oregon, and Wokingham, UK.  For more information, please visit www.wherescape.com.

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 All products or company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

I have two claims to fame in the technology world.  The first is that I once went on a date with Julia Packard.  The second is that I worked on two projects with data warehouse guru Ralph Kimball back in the early 90s, just after his first book was published.  So I was excited to learn he was going to be speaking at the TDWI chapter meeting here in San Francisco.  WhereScape is a sponsor of this TDWI chapter and all of their events have been great, but this one promised to be extra special.

It was interesting to hear Ralph speak and think about what has changed in our industry over 15 years.  One thing was immediately obvious: I’ve lost a lot of hair.  I had a pony tail back in ‘92 which has now been replaced by a vast shining dome.  Ralph was already balding back them and from what I could see now his hairline has neither advanced nor receded.

More to the point, Ralph spoke about the advancing tidal wave of data that we are all facing.  “I thought the data warehouse problem was solved in 1997,” he said.  “Between banks, retailers, and insurance companies it seemed like we had captured all of the data that humans could generate.”  Deep breath.  “Boy, was I wrong.”  He described how the web generates levels of data unanticipated by anyone.  Some companies are generating as much as 10 terabytes PER DAY.  “Any Teradata employees out there?” he said to the TDWI crowd.  “I think it’s time to change the name of your company, though I don’t know what you’ll change it to that won’t be obsolete in a few months.  How about just ‘Lotadata’.”

Another issue in DW today is data frequency.  “Some departments are demanding their data in ‘real time’, even though they don’t know what that means.  I’ll give you the precise definition of ‘real time’,” Ralph said.  “Real time’ just means faster than your ETL can deliver it.”  This brought out a lot of knowing laughter.  “No matter how fast your ETL is, someone will want it faster.”   There was discussion of new database technologies, but when it comes to delivering real information, speed is not necessarily the highest priority.  “Even if you have an infinitely fast database appliance,” he said,  “it’s worthless if it gives incorrect answers.”

He also talked about the business pressures we are facing: the enterprise need to get more out of the data but spend less.  “So given this environment, how can we do to make a difference in 2009?” he asked.  “What project should we take on?”

What came next could have been right out of the WhereScape RED sales presentation.  He is a strong advocate of agile methods for DW: “Get rid of the traditional software development life cycle,” he said. “You want a short development cycle that is driven by users.  The users should be running the project and you should be putting
something new in front of them every 20 days.”

He advised carefully targeting your 2009 projects: “Work with only one or two fact tables at a time,” he said.  “Start with only one or two dimension tables.  If you get those right, your users will have plenty to do as you move forward.  Don’t waste time and money on subject areas that aren’t going to help the business right away.”

Then, Ralph being Ralph, the presentation took off into outer space. He talked about Service Oriented Architectures and Business Process Execution Language and other stuff that I couldn’t follow.   I could feel my eyes glazing over and a sudden pressing need for a Starbuck’s Venti no foam soy milk triple latte.  But I forced myself to pay attention.  Ralph, after all, has a track record of being twenty years ahead of his time.

After the presentation I went up to shake his hand.  I asked him if he remembered the Monsanto project that we worked on together.  “Sure,” he said.  He squinted and smirked. “I see you got rid of the pony tail,” he said.