Big Challenges in Data Modeling–Data Model Governance

Join me and an excellent panel of industry experts in discussing the state of Data Modeling Governance.  No, not Data Governance, but Data Modeling Governance.  This free webinar is Thursday,  23 May at 2 PM EDT.  While the formal part starts at 2 PM, you are free to join us 15 minutes before as we prepare for the event.  You can even post your Data Modeling Governance questions then so that we can answer them

We data architects spend a great deal of time advocating for organizations to treat their data as an asset.  We champion the efforts to set up stewardship programs and data governance councils.  We insist that data conform to enterprise naming and modeling standards.  We enforce data policies, measure data quality, report deficiencies and track anomalies.  But do we follow our own advice when it comes to managing “our” data – metadata and data models?

In this webinar, we’ll be tackling the questions of:

• Do you have budget (money and time) to govern the data modeling environment?
• How can we get the resources we need to properly govern our data models?
• Who sets permissions and manages them?
• When does data modeling by email work?
• Are data modeling artefacts part of the production systems operations?
• Are there multiple data modeling tools in your environment? For the right reasons?
• Are we loving our data models as much as our data?
• …plus more.

My panellists this week have a great deal of experience in working on a variety of enterprise environments:

• Anne Marie Smith, Ph.D. is an Information Management professional and consultant with broad experience across industries. She has exceptional, demonstrated skills in business requirements gathering and analysis, data governance and stewardship, data architecture, data and process modeling, strategic data management, meta data management, data quality management, master data management, data warehouse planning and design, project management, and information systems methodology development.
• David Loshin is the President of Knowledge Integrity, Inc, (www.knowledge-integrity.com), a consulting company focusing on customized information management solutions including information quality consulting and training, business intelligence, metadata, and data standards management. David is among Knowledge Integrity’s recognized experts in information management.
• Pete Stiglich is a Senior Healthcare Data Architect at Perficient. He has over 25 years IT experience having worked in Enterprise Data Architecture, Data Management, Data Modeling (Conceptual, Logical, Physical, Dimensional, Data Vault, EDW), Data Quality, DW/BI, MDM, Metadata Management, Data Quality, and Database Administration (DBA)
• You! I always consider the audience as the first panellist in a webinar.   We have a open, engaging webinar configuration where attendees can chat with each other and ask questions to the panel.

You’ll need to pre-register, but it’s fast and free.  Bring your questions, comments, snark and observations.  See you Thursday.

Oh, and if you are late reading this and the webinar has already happened: no worries. We record every event and post it to the Dataversity website. You’ll miss all the great chatter in the chat room, though.

Slides from Karen’s #EDW13 Get Started Blogging Session

I was really happy to see such a great turnout for today’s session on how to get started blogging at Enterprise Data World (#EDW13).  I wasn’t just happy to have a full room, but that I got so many great, insightful questions and comments.

My Get Blogging slides are available for download now.

Some of the resources I mentioned during the talk:

• WordPress.com This is my blogging platform of choice.  You can set up a blog in 10 seconds, for free. 
• WordPress.org Same platform, but if you want to host it someplace yourself.  You can also find a third party host and they typically will have this ready to install from their catalog of approved applications.  It’s free.
• Windows Live Writer http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/essentials-other-programs  This is what I use to compose most of my blog posts
• TechSmith.com Home of Camtasia (video editor of my choice) and SnagIt (my screen capture tool).  You want these.
• ERwin.com Go To page for all things ERwin, including their blogs (under the community page)
• Embarcadero.com Where to find ER/Studio blogs
• Dataversity.net Home of numerous blogs and articles

Remember, if you start blogging, I want to hear about it so that I can share, comment, and help you promote your writing.

Get Blogging!

#EDW13 DAMA – Enterprise Data World

Save up to $200 with DATACHICK – #EDW13

I’ll be participating in this year’s Enterprise Data World 28 April to 2 May in San Diego, CA.  If you register using the coupon code DATACHICK you can get $200 off a multi-day registration.  That code saves you $50 on a one-day registration.

On Thursday, 2 May I’m giving a half day workshop on the data modeling process:

S5: Advanced Data Modeling: Be Happier, Add More Value and Be More Valued

Karen Lopez
Sr. Project Manager & Architect
InfoAdvisors

Thursday, May 2, 2013
01:15 PM – 04:30 PM

Level: 
Advanced

In this advanced workshop, Karen Lopez covers how to make data modeling more relevant in 2012 and removing pain points for modelers and other team members. It includes how to be successful in an agile/scrum environment, how to make models valuable in a NoSQL project, how to better work with DBAs, Developers, Project Managers and how to sound and be more valuable.

This follows a workshop format, with both individual and team exercises. It is expected that attendees will have more than two years of hands-on data modeling and database design skills at the enterprise level.

Starting a Blog for Data Professionals

On Wednesday I’m doing a professional development session on getting started with blogging:  Starting a Blog: Easy Step Show and Tell for Data Professionals.  This session is nicely placed between the coffee and desserts segment on the exhibit floor and the ice cream social that happens right after.  I’m expecting a lot of sugar-motivated potential bloggers.

I’ll also be doing some special activities with vendors and sponsors: watch your inbox for information from them about their events.

EDW is one of my favourite conferences of the year – part technical education, part data professional reunion, part data community revival.  You don’t want to miss it. 

Join Me 28 March 2PM EDT–Big Challenges in Data Modeling: Working with Developers

This month’s Big Challenges in Data Modeling webinar is Thursday at 2PM EDT.  We’ll be talking about better collaboration with developers and the development process.

I have a great panel:

Missy Wittman, Information Modeling Engineer Specialist, American Family Insurance

Missy Wittmann is an Information Modeling Engineer Specialist at American Family Insurance. Missy has worked in the data modeling field for over fifteen years in various roles. She started out as a business partner on a project that did some data modeling and enjoyed the process so much that she changed career paths. Missy has facilitated projects for Business Modeling, Logical and Physical Data Modeling. Most recently she has been participating in projects that are creating XML Schema’s. Data Modeling is an exciting place to be in the world of technology. No matter what technology is being used to get the end result, we always need our blue-print!

Joe Devon, CoFounder, Diamond Web Services

Joe Devon is the co-founder of Diamond Web Services, a boutique web development shop based in Venice Beach; Startup Devs, a “Prototypes as a Service” company building MVP’s for startups, and founding partner of Television Four, where he is building a technology channel.

Joe has been a computer programmer for more than 20 years, working on projects spanning Search Engine technology, Performance Management, scaling Wide Area Networks; for Internet backbone providers, Investment Banks, Telcos & Media.

Joe serves on the advisory boards of leading development industry conferences (Zendcon, Semtech) and for the educational program of Cross Campus. Joe is an organizer of several technology oriented meetup groups in Los Angeles and CoFounded Global Accessibility Awareness Day, bridging the gap between disabled citizens and the Internet.

Gwen Thomas, President, Data Governance Institute

Gwen Thomas is a Data Governance pioneer, founder of the Data Governance Institute, and publisher of the web’s largest Data Governance resource at www.datagovernance.com. Gwen has personally assisted many large, mid-sized, and small organizations with their data strategies, data governance and stewardship programs, master data strategies, and other information practices. Gwen is a frequent presenter at industry data events and contributor to IT and business publications.

I’m expecting a lot of good discussion and sharing of tips about how data models and data modelers can best work with developers during fast-paced, get-er-done projects. 

Registration is free, but you need to do that to get the information to join.

Office Hours with Datachick are Back – Fridays at 4PM EST

Late last year I put Office Hours on hold while I worked on some other things.  But now I’m able to start them  up again.  They may not be every week, but my goal is to have them when I can also invite others to provide their input to the discussion.  Think of them as a “special guest star”.   Not all of them will have special guests, but I’m hoping to have a few join us.

What are Office Hours?

I’m drawing from an academic practice of educators publishing set times when students could stop by to get help from an instructor on a more direct basis than in a classroom.  However, my intention isn’t for this to be an Instructor/Student dynamic, but more of a professional information sharing opportunity to talk shop outside the bounds of our regular projects.

There is no presentation or agenda set by me.  It’s all set by the attendees, sort of like an unconference call.

I see this as the types of conversations that happen during breaks at user group / DAMA meetings or at the end of a webinar.  Not all work, but primarily about topics we share an interest in.  I also see this as a type of tertulia, which is a conversation by a group of people with a share interest.

This is open to anyone and everyone who would like to be part of a virtual meeting of data professionals where there is no set agenda.

Please enter your real name or Twitter ID when joining the meeting. It helps us connect better, which is why we are having these meetings.

What Office Hours are Not

The intention isn’t for us to provide 45 minutes of free consulting to solve a detailed data modeling problem for one person.  That’s what we do for a living. It also isn’t quite the bar discussion after a user group meeting where all topics are available.  However, I might be on a beverage break at the same time and so could you.  So think about the same sort of topics, approaches, and conventions you’d normally follow in the break room at work or over breakfast at a your local DAMA meeting.

This isn’t a user group meeting with a presentation or agenda.  Perhaps it is an “unmeeting” of sort.  You don’t have to join at the starting time, nor do you have stay all the way through.   If you want to bring your Barbie, GI Joe, or Wayne Gretzky action figure, please do so.

We are using a version of Go To Meeting that allows for 15 participants at a time.  That means that our group will be small at any point in time. I think that matches what my intent is.  It also means that we can share screens/applications and that you can use a computer headset or dial in to to talk.

If you’d like a meeting invite for you calendar, e-mail me Karen @ infoadvisors.com (remove those spaces).  You can also leave a comment here with a valid e-mail address so that I can send you the meeting invite.

So lets give this a try.  I’d love to hear your questions, comments, thoughts on DATA.  We talk about issues, challenges, funny stories, and whatever is going on in the news about data.

Office Hours Starting  1 March 2013

Due to my travel schedule, I may miss a few Fridays.  Check out my Twitter stream on Fridays to find out. 

If you are in an office environment with lots of background noise, please manage your own muting: Don’t Be That Guy. Also, it is good form not to use a speaker phone on a conference call.  This applies to all conference calls.

The Logistics

1. Please join my meeting.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/269989161

2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.

Canada: +1 (647) 497-9391

Australia: +61 2 8355 1040

Austria: +43 (0) 7 2088 1399

Belgium: +32 (0) 38 08 1855

Netherlands: +31 (0) 708 912 514

New Zealand: +64 (0) 9 909 7882

Sweden: +46 (0) 852 503 498

Switzerland: +41 (0) 435 0167 07

United Kingdom: +44 (0) 203 535 0624

United States: +1 (646) 982-0002

Access Code: 269-989-161

Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 269-989-161

You can dial in or use your computer to hear the audio and speak – whatever works for you.  The audio pin isn’t required, but it is helpful if you dial in and give the pin so that we can tell who is talking.