Syllabus
Course Number: MSCD 681
Course Title: Database Warehouse Design
Course Description:
Data warehouse design includes in-depth exploration of organizational decision based on data
repository, focusing on requirements, data warehouse design, data extraction and data stores.
Includes business intelligence systems implications with hands-on approach to design.
Prerequisite Courses:
MSCD 600 Database Architecture and MSCD 610 Database Concepts
Course Overview
A data warehouse is a prepared repository of data designed to support the decision making
process of an organization. Based on the requirements and data warehouse design, data are
extracted from source systems, transformed, and loaded into data stores. From this repository,
business intelligence applications can access the data warehouse to support the decision making
process.
This course provides a thorough understanding of data warehouse concepts, the distinct roles of
each data warehouse team member, and how to design and build data warehouses. The course
objectives are met through a combination of class lectures, readings, research, and hands-on
exercises.
Course Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, learners should be able to:
• Identify and define the components of a data warehouse environment.
• Design star schemas using dimensional modeling techniques based on the Kimball
methodology.
• Explain the structure of fact and dimension tables.
• Identify and illustrate by example the 3 major grains of a fact table.
• Explain the goals and components of an ETL system.
• Develop and load dimension and fact tables.
• Analyze ETL vendor tools and explain the pros and cons of implementing ETL
vendor tools versus building an ETL solution.
• Explain and provide examples of how business intelligence tools interoperate with
the data warehouse.
• Utilize the MicroStrategy web based business intelligence tool to create reports
against a data warehouse.
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Revised: 2/5/2015
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Explain basic data mining concepts and OLAP structures.
Identify and describe the role and duties of each job function in a data
warehouse team environment.
Course Materials:
Required Texts:
Kimball, Ralph. (2008). The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit 2nd Edition. Indianapolis, IN:
Wiley Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-470-14977-5.
There are also additional readings for this course listed in the course overview grid. The
course facilitator/instructor will provide instructions to access these articles. Also, you'll
have access to Microsoft Visio for the data modeling assignments.
Please signup for a free student account on the Teradata Student Network. Its URL is
http://www.teradatastudentnetwork.com. This site is a web-based portal for students in data
warehousing and business intelligence courses. We will access the MicroStrategy business
intelligence tool from the portal site for gaining practical experience in creating BI reports
later in the course.
Technology Tools:
The web-based Citrix technical environment for lab work can be found at this
URL: http://myregisapp.regis.edu/Citrix/StoreWeb/
The login ID and password for the Citrix environment are your Regis Net credentials (e.g.
Regis InSITE credentials).
Your instructor will provide you with user documentation within your Worldclass online
course that will describe how to use the Citrix Lab Environment. Your instructor will also
provide you with a database user ID/password or other database login instructions.
Optional Materials:
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
American Psychological Association (current edition). APA Style, http://www.apastyle.org/
First Week Assignment:
1. Read Chapter 1 – The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Tool.
2. Read "Data Warehousing Battle of Giants: Comparing the Basics of the Kimball and
Inmon Models," Business Intelligence
3. Journal, Winter 2004.
4. Participation in the forum discussion threads.
©2015 Regis University
MSCD 681 CC&IS Syllabus Template (dotx)
Revised: 2/5/2015
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Course Assignments and Activities:
Topics
1
Readings
Course Orientation
Introduction to Data
Warehousing/Busines
s Intelligence
Introduction to the
Kimball Lifecycle
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapter 1)
Activities Assignments and
Associated Points
Forum Discussion
Breslin, "Data Warehousing
Battle of Giants: Comparing the
Basics of the Kimball and Inmon
Models," Business Intelligence
Journal, Winter 2004.
2
Introduction to
Dimensional
Modeling
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapters 6 and 7)
Forum Discussion
Technical
Architecture Basics
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapters 4, 8)
Forum Discussion
Fact Table Design
Moody and Kortink, “From ER
Models to Dimensional Models:
Bridging the Gap between OLTP
and OLAP Design, Part I,”
Business Intelligence Journal,
Summer 2003.
Data Quality Assignment
Scholarly Response 1
Dimensional Model
Design
3
Physical Database
Design
Design Phase
Deliverables
4
Introduction to
Extraction,
Transforation, and
Load (ETL)
Extract Processing
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapter 9)
Eckerson, “Evaluating ETL and
Data Integration Platforms”
TDWI Research Report, 2002.
Dimensional Model Design
Assignment
Forum Discussion
Aggregation Dimensional
Model Design Assignment
Cleaning,
Conforming, and
Transforming Data
©2015 Regis University
MSCD 681 CC&IS Syllabus Template (dotx)
Revised: 2/5/2015
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Designing and
Developing the ETL
system
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapter 10)
Forum Discussion
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapters 11 and 12)
Forum Discussion Scholarly
Response 3
Scholarly Response 2
Developing
Dimension Tables
Developing Fact
Tables
6
Business Intelligence
Applications (BI)
Designing and
Developing BI
7
MicroStrategy Web Business
Tool Demo Assignment
Supporting BI
Applications
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle
Toolkit (Chapters 13 and 14)
Forum Discussion Annotated
Bibliography
OLAP & Data
Mining Concepts
Zaima and Kashner, "A Data
Mining Primer for the Data
Warehouse Professional,"
Business Intelligence Journal,
Spring 2003.
Data Warehouse Failures
Analysis Assignment
Data Warehouse
Team Roles
8
Course Wrapup
Course Project
Final Exam
Turnaround Time:
I will be checking my account daily. Please expect the facilitator to respond within 48 hours
of your email. The turnaround time for assignments is one week or less.
Student Evaluation Grid:
Assignments
Weighted
Percentage
Participation in Forum Discussion
15%
Annotated Bibliography
10%
Hands-on Assignments (5 total)
25%
Scholarly Responses (3 total)
15%
Course Project
20%
Final Exam
15%
TOTAL
©2015 Regis University
100%
MSCD 681 CC&IS Syllabus Template (dotx)
Revised: 2/5/2015
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Participation:
Because of the accelerated nature of the course, class participation is very important. Class
participation/effort is important because we can all learn from each other. Your participation
points can make a difference in the final grade. If the student doesn't participate during any given
week, they will lose the participation points of that week.
Participation means:
1. Present in class every session (classroom) or present in the forum every week (online)
2. Effectively responds to questions from the facilitator (classroom) or regularly checks
forum and post all required assignments/discussion questions/ items by the deadlines
(online)
3. Contributes to classroom/forum discussions, etc.
CC&IS Grading Scale:
Letter Grade
Percentage
A
A–
B+
B
B–
C+
C
C–
D+
D
DF
93 to 100
90 to less than 93
87 to less than 90
83 to less than 87
80 to less than 83
77 to less than 80
73 to less than 77
70 to less than 73
67 to less than 70
63 to less than 67
60 to less than 63
Less than 60
Grade Point
4.00
3.67
3.33
3.00
2.67
2.33
2.00
1.67
1.33
1.00
.67
0
Additional information about grading can be found in the latest edition of the University Catalog,
available at http://www.regis.edu/Academics/Course%20Catalog.aspx.
CC&IS Policies and Procedures
Each of the following CC&IS Policies & Procedures is incorporated here by reference. Students
are expected to review this information each term, and agree to the policies and procedures as
identified here and specified in the latest edition of the University Catalog, available
at http://www.regis.edu/Academics/Course%20Catalog.aspx or at the link provided.
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The CC&IS Academic Integrity Policy.
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The Student Honor Code and Student Standards of Conduct.
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Incomplete Grade Policy, Pass / No Pass Grades, Grade Reports.
©2015 Regis University
MSCD 681 CC&IS Syllabus Template (dotx)
Revised: 2/5/2015
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The Information Privacy policy and FERPA. For more information regarding FERPA,
visit the U.S. Department of Education.
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The HIPPA policies for protected health information. The complete Regis University
HIPAA Privacy & Security policy can be found here: http://www.regis.edu/About-RegisUniversity/University-Offices-and-Services/Auxiliary-Business/HIPAA.aspx.
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The Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB) procedures. More information
about the IRB and its processes can be found here: http://regis.edu/Academics/AcademicGrants/Proposals/Regis-Information/IRB.aspx.
The CC&IS Policies & Procedures Syllabus Addendum summarizes additional important
policies including, Diversity, Equal Access, Disability Services, and Attendance & Participation
that apply to every course offered by the College of Computer & Information Sciences at Regis
University. A copy of the CC&IS Policies & Procedures Syllabus Addendum can be found
here: https://in2.regis.edu/sites/ccis/policies/Repository/CCIS%20Syllabus%20Addendum.docx.
©2015 Regis University
MSCD 681 CC&IS Syllabus Template (dotx)
Revised: 2/5/2015
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