PRE-CONFERENCE TUTORIALS • 30 October 2006

Delivering the Business-Value of Enterprise Metadata
R Todd Stephens, BellSouth

This tutorial focuses on the formulation and implementation of an enterprise metadata strategy. Participants will learn techniques to understand the role of metadata in the development of Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI) and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). The Metadata Services Group within BellSouth has spent the last six years developing an enterprise metadata solution based on a solid product line and a customer service focus. This tutorial will develop the attendees understanding of how to develop a successful enterprise metadata implementation that creates value over the long term. We will examine the principles of marketing, selling strategies, service offerings, product design, architecture, team construction and overall strategy of delivery for an enterprise metadata solution in both the structured and un-structured world.

• Identify and compare your organizations metadata business strategy with ours.
• Develop metadata solutions and blueprints for a service transformation and delivering real business value with patterns.
• See how metadata enabled the enterprise service reuse program
• Enhance your ability to market and sell enterprise metadata with a solid business case.
• Understand which components to focus on in the first 100 days of deployment

Featured Speaker:

R Todd Stephens BellSouth

MetaData Management 2007
Stu Carty, Gavilan Research

This willl be an interactive discussion of the latest metadata market trends, corporate issues, and vendor software solutions. Are you planning to evaluate, purchase, or build a metadata management solution in 2007? Are you looking for ideas or suggestions to help you implement & use a metadata solution that was previously purchased?

This 3-hour tutorial will help you to get organized for this important project! It will cover key issues, needs, requirements, usage trends, and evaluation criteria that Global 5000 companies are using today to effectively evaluate and justify metadata software solutions. The tutorial will provide real survey results on the latest metadata vendor tools – software products, capabilities, comparisons, best-fit, features, strengths, and weaknesses. It will help you to better manage the vendor selection process by providing a set of tools and checklists for more effectively communicating your needs to the vendor. It will discuss best practices & approaches for successfully implementing metadata software products.

Featured Speaker:

Stu Carty Gavilan Research

Integrating Metadata – the Do’s and the Dont’s
Kjell Wittmaack, Platon A/S

Metadata is valuable. Integrated metadata is more valuable! But there’s a catch: making that integration happen is not easy and it does not come about on its own. You need to make that happen. Valuable metadata is something that involves more than just data – issues like standards, policies, organizational processes and people are all issues you need to consider. This session will teach you the metadata fundamentals, how to integrate metadata and will discuss metadata governance.

Featured Speaker:

Kjell Wittmaack Platon A/S

IQ Principles and Processes
Larry P English, INFORMATION IMPACT International

While organizations have recognized the requirement for product and service quality to be competitive, most are only now becoming aware of the problems in information quality and how poor information quality hurts competitiveness and profits. Information quality management is not an academic exercise—it is a required management tool for business performance excellence in the “realized” Information Age.

World-class companies apply the same quality principles, such as Deming’s Fourteen Points, Kaizen and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to information as a product of business process. This presentation addresses how these principles and techniques apply directly to information as a product and knowledge workers as information customers.

In this tutorial Mr. English describes the fundamental principles of information quality. He describes how an organization can improve the quality and value of its information resources. He describes metrics for measuring information quality and management principles for implementing an effective information quality environment. Mr. English describes how organizations have successfully implemented information quality processes to improve the effectiveness of their business and information system processes.

I. Principles and Processes of IQ Assessment: Information Quality Appraisal

• Defining information quality: what IQ is and is not
• Information customers and information producers
• The information supply chain
• Metrics for information quality
• Assessing information quality
• Measuring the costs of poor quality information
• Principles and Processes of IQ Improvement

II. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) and IQ Process Improvement

• Quick wins and systemic improvements for information quality improvement and business effectiveness
• Quality principles for information scrap and rework
• Principles for designing information quality

III. Principles and Processes of Culture Transformation: Creating an Environment for Sustainable Quality Information

• The 14 Points of Information Quality
• How to start an information quality initiative
• Creating and sustaining culture change for business effectiveness and sustainable IQ management

Delegates will receive a certificate toward part of Mr. English's TIQM Mastery Certification Series following completion of the one day tutorial

Featured Speaker:

Larry P English INFORMATION IMPACT International

DW 2.0™
Bill Inmon, Inmon Data Services

DW 2.0™ - architecture for the next generation of data warehousing© – has its roots in classical data warehousing. But some important new architectural features are intertwined – the life cycle of data, the need to connect unstructured data with structured data, the need to tightly intertwine metadata with the warehouse, the need for an enterprise metadata repository – all these features are vitally important for the next generation of data warehousing. This tutorial by Bill Inmon describes what you need to know about DW 2.0™ to get started. In addition, this tutorial will point you to where you can go for further in depth material.

Some of the topics include:

• accommodating the life cycle of data in the data warehouse
• accommodating transaction processing in the data warehouse
• bringing unstructured data into the data warehouse
• the metadata infrastructure for the data warehouse, and so forth.
  

Featured Speaker:

Bill Inmon Inmon Data Services

The Marriage of SOA and Data Warehousing
Rick F. van der Lans, R20/Consultancy

One of the hottest topics in the IT industry is the Service Oriented Architecture. The SOA deals with integration applications and data warehousing focuses on integrating data. Still, these two architectures can benefit from each other. Both have to deal with cleaning data, both have to link new to old systems, and both are used for unifying disparate systems. In this session we explain how the SOA can benefit from integrating the data warehouse within the SOA, plus, we discuss how the datawarehouse can benefit from the SOA. In a nutshell, the SOA and the data warehouse form a perfect match!

Featured Speaker:

Rick F. van der Lans R20/Consultancy

Successful Master Data Management
Malcolm Chisholm, AskGet.com

The current interest in Master Data Management (MDM) has been accompanied by an unfortunate undercurrent of thought that MDM is nothing more than well-tried data management practices repackaged in an attractive new form. This tutorial clearly demonstrates that Master Data has unique properties and behaviour that demands special management approaches. The tutorial examines what Master Data is, and builds on this to discuss several practical approaches to solving specific Master Data problems. These include managing hidden subtypes, modeling master data, what to use for primary keys, and managing master data metadata. Participants will take away the following:

• A clear understanding of what Master Data is
• How it relates to other classes of data
• Approaches to solving important issues that are unique to MDM
• An introduction to MDM at the enterprise level

Featured Speaker:

Malcolm Chisholm AskGet.com

Half Day Tutorial
14:00-17:30

How Data Managers Can Use XML to Leverage Existing Efforts
Peter Aiken, VCU/Data Blueprint

While XML is now approaching a decade of use, its power as a data management technology is still not widely understood. Most organizational data managers have not yet been able to harness the power of XML. This half-day tutorial will show you how to use XML to implement aspects of your data management program: faster; better; and cheaper – without sacrificing quality. Focusing on practical/easily implemented capabilities, this provides an overview of how best to implement XML – strategically – while complimenting/assisting ongoing data management (DM) activities. The more an organization invests in XML the faster the payoffs and the more direct are the organizational benefits. Delegates will:

• Understand the basic theories and guidance to use when incorporating XML into DM solutions – understanding the practical and effective;
• Appreciate the many ways that the XML component architecture can be used to leverage DM solution efforts; and
• Learn from many examples of XML-based solutions
• Comprehend the many complimentary characteristics between XML and best DM practices;
• Fathom the strengths/weakness of new XML-based DM techniques.

Featured Speaker:

Peter Aiken CU/Data Blueprint

Selling Data Management to the Enterprise
Michael Scofield, ESRI, Inc

Data Management, in many organizations, must fight for its life. Executives don’t understand DM and the value of the data asset, and don’t understand data architecture. Many IT people (particularly programmers) have little patience for DM. To improve its image, increase its visibility, and add value to the enterprise, DM must widen its customer base around the organization, and be entrepreneurial in it’s approach. Michael explains:

• Essentials of data asset inventory
• The importance of semantic data integration
• Ways to add value to the enterprise from data knowledge and metadata
• Becoming proactive in engaging the enterprise
• How to package and express clearly your message of DM success

Featured Speaker:

Michael Scofield ESRI, Inc

Process Orientation for Data Management
Alec Sharp, Clariteq Systems Consulting Ltd

Organisations everywhere are once again looking at their business processes - undertaking Business Process Redesign, adopting Six Sigma methods, or getting into Business Process Management. This is great news for data management professionals with skills in the business process arena. This practical and intense tutorial will provide those skills - it covers a complete methodology for working on process-oriented projects, and is packed with frameworks, tips, and practical examples to get you off to a successful start. Throughout, the synergies between data management and process orientation will be demonstrated. Specifics include:

• What people think a process is
• Supporting Data Management goals
• Successful and unsuccessful approaches to process modeling
• Framework for assessment and redesign

Featured Speaker:

Alec Sharp Clariteq Systems Consulting Ltd

Data Models and User Interfaces as Communications
Graham Witt, AeM Group

Data models and user interfaces are examples of communication media and hence have the potential to be ambiguous and convey messages other than those intended. In this wide-ranging workshop Graham looks at the role of language and symbols and how ambiguity in specifications, diagrams and user interfaces can be reduced without loss of comprehension. He concludes with a comprehensive description of the latest developments in describing data models through assertions.

• How errors arise in communication
• The problem of multiple languages
• Diagrams as communications
• The role of syntax in comprehension
• Names, descriptions, on-screen legends, help and other metadata
• Mapping names to concepts
• The meaning of data
• Natural language business rules
• Simplifying complex messages
• Assertions: the latest developments

Featured Speaker:

Graham Witt AeM Group

The Art (and Science) of Diagramming: How to Communicate Effectively Using Diagrams
Dr. Daniel Moody, University of Twente

Diagrams are used in virtually all areas of IT practice. Despite this, practitioners typically receive no training in how to produce “good” diagrams. The unfortunate but inevitable consequence of this is that most diagrams used in IT practice do not communicate effectively at all. This workshop describes a set of principles for producing “good” diagrams (i.e. diagrams that communicate effectively). The principles apply to all types of diagrams, from UML models to informal diagrams used in presentations and consulting reports. You will learn from this workshop:

• What is meant by a “good” diagram
• Common errors in IT diagramming practice and how to avoid them
• Principles of graphic design:
• Human graphical information processing
• Guidelines for evaluating and improving diagrams

Featured Speaker:

Dr. Daniel Moody University of Twente

Facilitation for Information Management Professionals
Anne Marie Smith, EWSolutions

Facilitation is a very necessary skill for Information Management professionals since they are called upon regularly to lead requirements discover sessions, work on projects with different groups of people, and manage the development of common understanding of complex data and processes.

You will learn:

• Requirements discovery
• Building agendas for project planning
• Consensus building methods
• Facilitation techniques for improved group dynamics
• Facilitation for difficult groups

Featured Speaker:

Anne Marie Smith EWSolutions

12 Steps to Better Data Models
Graeme Simsion, University of Melbourne

Graeme will cover twelve techniques that will improve the quality of the data models you produce, whether for transaction processing systems, data warehouses, or data planning and management. Topics will include:

• Disciplined assessment of data model quality
• Improving requirements collection
• Validating models with stakeholders
• Organizing the process and deliverables
• Encouraging exploration of alternatives
• Making sound, defensible choices of keys
• Working effectively with DBAs / physical designers

Featured Speaker:

Graeme Simsion University of Melbourne