The Data Webhouse Toolkit: Building the Web–Enabled Data Warehouse

"Ralph‘s latest book ushers in the second wave of the Internet. . . . Bottom line, this book provides the insight to help companies combine Internet–based business intelligence with the bounty of customer data generated from the internet."––William Schmarzo, Director World Wide Solutions, Sales, and Marketing,IBM NUMA–Q.

Receiving over 100 million hits a day, the most popular commercial Websites have an excellent opportunity to collect valuable customer data that can help create better service and improve sales. Companies can use this information to determine buying habits, provide customers with recommendations on new products, and much more. Unfortunately, many companies fail to take full advantage of this deluge of information because they lack the necessary resources to effectively analyze it.

In this groundbreaking guide, data warehousing‘s bestselling author, Ralph Kimball, introduces readers to the Data Webhouse––the marriage of the data warehouse and the Web. If designed and deployed correctly, the Webhouse can become the linchpin of the modern, customer–focused company, providing competitive information essential to managers and strategic decision makers. In this book, Dr. Kimball explains the key elements of the Webhouse and provides detailed guidelines for designing, building, and managing the Webhouse. The results are a business better positioned to stay healthy and competitive.

In this book, you‘ll learn methods for:
– Tracking Website user actions
– Determining whether a customer is about to switch to a competitor
– Determining whether a particular Web ad is working
– Capturing data points about customer behavior
– Designing the Website to support Webhousing
– Building clickstream datamarts
– Designing the Webhouse user interface
– Managing and scaling the Webhouse

The companion Website at www.wiley.com/compbooks/kimball provides updates on Webhouse technologies and techniques, as well as links to related sites and resources.

From the Inside Flap
All the proven testing tools and techniques you?ll need to ensure that your applications work exactly as they?re supposed to!

Can you guarantee that the software your company develops works as intended? It?s essential that you know the proper techniques for testing software, otherwise you could face lost productivity, lost revenue, and customer dissatisfaction.

Leading software testing expert William Perry takes you through a comprehensive eleven–step testing process that contains all of the components you?ll need to evaluate your software. This testing process includes numerous workpapers and checklists designed to lead you through all aspects of software testing and can be customized to meet the needs of your organization or for a specific test assignment.

From establishing a test strategy to selecting and using testing tools, you?ll also find helpful guidelines on how to build an effective testing environment. This includes self– assessments designed to improve deficient capabilities of your software development process and deficient competencies of software testers.

Detailed test programs featured in this second edition include:

• Internet/Intranet applications
• Off–the–shelf software
• Multiplatform environments
• System security
• Data warehouse applications
• Client/server systems
• Rapid application development

From the back cover:

"Ralph‘s latest book ushers in the second wave of the Internet. . . . Bottom line, this book provides the insight to help companies combine Internet–based business intelligence with the bounty of customer data generated from the internet."–William Schmarzo, Director World Wide Solutions, Sales, and Marketing,IBM NUMA–Q.

Receiving over 100 million hits a day, the most popular commercial Websites have an excellent opportunity to collect valuable customer data that can help create better service and improve sales. Companies can use this information to determine buying habits, provide customers with recommendations on new products, and much more. Unfortunately, many companies fail to take full advantage of this deluge of information because they lack the necessary resources to effectively analyze it.

In this groundbreaking guide, data warehousing‘s bestselling author, Ralph Kimball, introduces readers to the Data Webhouse–the marriage of the data warehouse and the Web. If designed and deployed correctly, the Webhouse can become the linchpin of the modern, customer–focused company, providing competitive information essential to managers and strategic decision makers. In this book, Dr. Kimball explains the key elements of the Webhouse and provides detailed guidelines for designing, building, and managing the Webhouse. The results are a business better positioned to stay healthy and competitive.

In this book, you‘ll learn methods for:
* Tracking Website user actions
* Determining whether a customer is about to switch to a competitor
* Determining whether a particular Web ad is working
* Capturing data points about customer behavior
* Designing the Website to support Webhousing
* Building clickstream datamarts
* Designing the Webhouse user interface
* Managing and scaling the Webhouse

The companion Website at www.wiley.com/compbooks/kimball provides updates on Webhouse technologies and techniques, as well as links to related sites and resources.

About the Author:

RALPH KIMBALL, PhD, has been a leading visionary in the data warehouse industry since 1982 and is one of today‘s most well–known speakers, consultants, and teachers. He writes the "Webhouse Architect" column for Intelligent Enterprise magazine and is the author of the bestselling books The Data Warehouse Toolkit and The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit (both from Wiley).
RICHARD MERZ is Director of Engineering for the WebCom division of Verio, the world‘s largest Web hosting company. He has a strong hands–on background in data warehouse architecture and applications, and has been managing the development of Web and e–commerce software for the past five years.