Dan Linstedt: Unlocking the Vault

Speakers: Dan Linstedt, Kent Graziano, William (“Bill”) Inmon Be prepared to be enlightened, entertained, and engaged by three of our industry's thought leaders, champions, and Legends - Dan Linstedt, Kent Graziano, and Bill Inmon. This session is focused on sharing stories from the past that are oh-so-applicable to our current environment and to shine wisdom for today's problems, and peeking into the future from the decades of experience these legends have to share. Understanding that there truly is nothing new under the sun, these gentlemen have been on the bleeding edge and have lived to tell a tale or two. This is a rare opportunity to listen to and engage with this group of seasoned masterminds. Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to talk exclusively with Dan Linstedt, the Father of the Data Vault; Kent Graziano, Data Vault Master and Evangelist; and William (Bill) Inmon, the Father of Data Warehousing.

2023 is only 4 months old, and we’re already swimming in buzzwords - Data Mesh, Data Lake House, the list goes on! On our newest episode of Unlocking the Vault with Dan Linstedt, a who’s who of Data Gurus joined us to discuss what they see as the most important topics in Data Analytics today. AI, Machine Learning, what they think about Chat GPT, the hour is jam-packed with content!

Take a listen to hear from the Gurus about what concepts businesses are reaching for in order to achieve results “better, faster, cheaper” - and as Dan will point out, at what cost?

Hear from Dan Linstedt, Kent Graziano, Scott Ambler, Veronika Durgin, Francesco Puppini, Dale Anderson, Noel Cruz, Kevin Marshbank, and Cynthia Meyersohn about what's on the horizon for our data loving hearts.

Episode 22: Back to Basics – Why the Foundation will Always be more important than anything else

For the first time ever, Dan Linstedt, Cindi Meyersohn and Sanjay Pande – the 3 musketeers of DVA got together and discussed the basics of any analytics solution and how and why the Data Vault 2.0 system of analytics is best positioned as the leading industry alternative:

 In this episode:

-       Discover why Business Intelligence and Analytics is, was and always will be about the business. Technology is just a helper, but it can be an accelerator too.

-       Busting the myth that IT owns the data which most technology teams believe when in actuality, they’re custodians.

-       How and why to start with business concepts and business terms

-       Where to find business keys and why your database metadata is actually the last place you should look.

-       Learn about a fundamental concept called the Extended Taxonomy Exercise that will enable you to not just make any solution better but understand your business and deliver quicker.

-       A special discount coupon for WWDVC 2023 for listeners

And, how all this is tied back to the Data Vault 2.0 System of Analytics in easy to understand business language with examples from grocery shopping. 

In this episode, DVA sits down with Mark Budzinski, CEO of Clean Data, Inc., and former CEO of WhereScape to hear from an executive about how technical teams can be most effective in collaborating with the business.  Mark discusses how to approach the business, what not to say, and how to speak in business terms.  He also discusses his work with DVA in bringing a new format to the World Wide Data Vault Consortium (WWDVC 2023) that he is excited about - a one-day Business Track - which will take place on May 1, 2023 (the first day of the conference) in beautiful Stowe, VT.  Hear Mark's perspective on what value this Business Day brings to the attendees and who, from the business side, ought to be attending the conference.

Our last podcast of 2022 is a wrap-up of all of the topics that Dan Linstedt, Sanjay Pande, and Cindi Meyersohn discussed.  Want to know a what we discussed and what episode the topic was covered in?  Listen up to this podcast as Cindi recaps all that Dan and company spoke about or addressed.  You can go back and listen to any episodes you may have missed.  Cindi blended in a number of "freebies" for our listeners that are only available in this recording, so listen in to what you may have missed during the season and pick up our gifts.  Learn about our Forums and the WWDVC 2023 Event from April 30 through May 5 in Stowe, VT.

Centralized or Decentralized: Can We Answer This Question Once And For All?
The question is as old as the data warehouse. We are prone to centralize implementations of data platforms for purposes of governance and consistency. It is the pursuit of the holy grail for one version of the truth, proven, documented, and auditable. Yet the contemporary data analyst wants autonomy, exercising decentralized decision-making rights and the ability to enrich data, while ensuring compliance to local (e.g., country specific) regulatory requirements. Can we centralize or decentralize? Yes. Should we? Well, here it seems, the answer is, “it depends.” Hybrid environments prevail, balancing enduring and (often) conflicting demands.

What is the juxtaposition of Centralization to Decentralization within the context of the Data Vault 2.0 solution? In this second part of our three-part series, Dan looks at the importance of defining centralization and decentralization focusing on the context of methodology, architecture, and modeling.

In this first of a three-part series, Dan and Cindi talk about the meaning of Centralization vs. Decentralization and how it can be applied today to the theory and concept of Data Mesh.

When we talk about Agile Methodology, what do we mean? Is this the capital A Agile from the Agile Manifesto, or something different?

Architects love to put their personal fingerprints on custom solutions for their employers. How does Data Vault feed that creative spirit? Listen to Dan and Cindi as they reveal why DV2 standards provide guardrails and the recommended best practices foster creativity.

In Part 2 of this two-part series, Dan and Cindi continue to discuss the importance of understanding where your team is today in terms of metrics and measures, and using those as the established baseline against which future performance can be compared and understood.

• What are the business components necessary to build a solid Data Vault development team?
• How do you get started?
• What should you expect from the team?
• How can you help them accelerate?

Metrics help the team understand what is potentially broken and whether the team is improving. Data Vault 2.0 fully embraces the CMMI levels of maturity to help you understand, identify, define, measure, and optimize your current WoW - Ways of Working. Following the CMMI measured approach paves the way for the rest of the organization to embrace proven best practices to accelerate and bring value to the business.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Dan and Cindi discuss the importance of understanding where your team is today in terms of metrics and measures, and using those as the established baseline against which future performance can be compared and understood.

• What are the business components necessary to build a solid Data Vault development team?
• How do you get started?
• What should you expect from the team?
• How can you help them accelerate?

Metrics help the team understand what is potentially broken and whether the team is improving. Data Vault 2.0 fully embraces the CMMI levels of maturity to help you understand, identify, define, measure, and optimize your current WoW - Ways of Working. Following the CMMI measured approach paves the way for the rest of the organization to embrace proven best practices to accelerate and bring value to the business.

Suppose your organization is planning their digital transformation and modernization strategy. As part of that strategy, you want to move off your legacy data warehouse and migrate to a Data Vault 2.0 Solution for your analytics methodology.

How do you execute that strategy?

In this episode of Unlocking the Vault, Dan and Cindi discuss how to migrate from a legacy data warehouse to a Data Vault 2.0 solution while providing continued support for the business.

Learn how to set expectations for both business and your teams, position your project for success, and ready your teams along with pitfalls to avoid and the recommended best practices to employ sustain forward motion.

Data scientists are both consumers of data (raw and curated) and producers of refined data and information outcomes (decision support, discovery, and exploration outcomes). If not utilized properly, data scientists are the most expensive data engineering resource you will ever hire! 

Learn how the Data Vault 2.0 System of Business Intelligence naturally aligns and employs the skills of your data scientists and IT engineering team efficiently and cost effectively so that you can mature your analytics capabilities from predictive to prescriptive.

How does Data Vault enable and use Data Science? 

What are the business benefits that Data Vault brings to the Data Science process? 

Dan and Sanjay share real life stories of companies that implemented a proper Data Vault 2.0 Solution (i.e., Data Vaults Done Right, Everywhere, Every Time); positioning and maturing their businesses to take advantage of their data science outcomes at a prescriptive level.

Looking for best practices in getting data out of your Data Vault 2.0 solution and into the business' hands effectively, efficiently, and accurately? Join Dan Linstedt and Sanjay Pande as they discuss the common errors most teams make when building a Data Vault solution that result in delayed deliveries to the business. 

What should the scope of a work product look like for delivering consistent, agile releases to the business? 

How do these scoping mechanisms aid in accelerated delivery through automation tooling and testing? 

Lets look at how the development team can use end user BI tools to create prototypes of the desired outcome to the consumers, and the importance of focusing on functionality before focusing on optimization. Become informed about the critical need for proper training in the automation tooling, its application in a Data Vault implementation, and how true delivery acceleration starts with Certified Data Vault 2.0 Practitioner training.

Can you build an operational system on top of a Data Vault 2.0? Isn’t Data Vault solution only for analytics? Listen to Dan and Sanjay as they talk about building an operational application directly on top of your Data Vault solution. How does DV2 support direct operational applications and what are the implications of architecting your business operations in this manner? Learn how designing your operational application on top of your Data Vault 2.0 solution makes real time data analytic outcomes a reality without moving your data.

How does the DV2 approach safe guard your analytics solution? Join Sanjay Pande and Dan Linstedt as they discuss the benefits of Data Vault 2.0, recounting stories from years of experience and the challenges they faced along the way.  Hear how Data Vault truly is the complete solution that incorporates People, Process, and Technology and encompasses models and prescriptive approaches to mitigate the business’s risk.

IT is a business unit and,  as part of IT’s maturity, the ability to measure, identify, provide business value, and deliver on time are all integral aspects of demonstrable maturity. In this episode Dan talks about the different modeling methods and their accuracy and how Data Vault compares to Kimball architecture and model and Bill Inmon’s Operational Data Warehouse. Dan also addresses the impact of change on the different warehouse solutions – both to the physical modelling approach chosen and to the related data pipeline – and why the warehouse strategy selected introduces risk to the business in terms of costs and reengineering/refactoring efforts.

After a fast recap of the discussions we've had starting with Episode 1 thru 5, we circle back to the story of Data Vault from a business value and risk mitigation strategy. Dan brings to bear the importance authorized CDVP2 training; standards developed through testing rigor versus best practices; why standards aren't defined by consensus; and how DV creates a solid foundation for the business’ analytics. We dig deeper into how Data Vault as a holistic analytic solution addresses true continuous improvement across the entire enterprise. Dan talks about how Lockheed's IT organization had to operate as a business in and of itself - and how running IT like its own business impacted the types of data and metrics Data Vault had to capture. Dan discusses how executive management can support their internal analytic efforts and where responsibilities lie between IT and the business in achieving accelerated business value and success.

It's time to step back and define KPAs and KPIs in business terms. To do that, we have to ask "why are they important?" In this weeks episode we revisit mergers and acquisitions, addressing the challenges they introduce and how Data Vault resolves them in an auditable, transparent, resilient manner for the business. We'll also be diving into how JP Morgan Chase utilized their Data Vault solution to consistently, repeatably, and rapidly assess the value of a potential acquisition and then absorb and integrate the resulting data from those companies into their existing business operations. 

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestiture of data.  Can the business position its analytics solution to rapidly respond to due diligence demands?  Can it deliver those analytics to the business in a governed manner?  No matter what your business is or where in the business lifecycle you are, you need a solution blueprint that supports governed self-service outcomes for your business consumers and allows you to quickly respond to perceived risks.  Take a peek into what managed self-service analytics is and how Data Vault reduces barriers to data and information use. Consider what due diligence might mean to your business' success and the value proposition / power of delivering the right data at the right time to your business users.

This week, Dan dives deep into two of the most common issues taken for granted by a business: The Auditability of data and how to Scale it. To illustrate, Dan takes us through stories of his past, first with Quest missing 15 years of historical data to prep for their audit, and lastly, he partners with Nols Ebersohn, to help a struggling Australian company that has no deliverables and is clinging to a Kimble Style Architecture.

Audit compliance, global security, distributed privacy policy, and insuring raw data is available for data scientists are just a few of the business risks we face…but are all tackled with the DV2.0 methodology. In this episode, Dan outlines some of the most vexing problems encountered by business managers in firms of all sizes. Not merely a theoretical framework, data vault is a practical solution to today’s most compelling business challenges. Let's Unlock the Vault.

In this first episode, Dan and Cindi walk through the beginnings of Data Vault as developed inside of Lockheed Martin, touch on its applicability for not only large but also any size of business, and how it was intricately designed to bring businesses massive value by mitigating risk after risk.