Data Warehouse Build Project Dashboard
This is a practical guide to building a project dashboard for a data warehouse build project — a visual summary of the project’s key metrics and status, adapted to the realities of building a central data warehouse for analytics.
What a Project Dashboard is
A project dashboard is a visual summary of the project’s key metrics and status. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Project Dashboard. On a data warehouse build project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Data Warehouse Build project
Data Warehouse Build projects live or die on building a central data warehouse for analytics. A well-built project dashboard gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how data warehouse build projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Status indicators
- Schedule and cost KPIs
- Milestones
- Top risks/issues
Data Warehouse Build-specific considerations
Tailor the project dashboard to the risks that most often derail data warehouse build projects:
- Source-system integration
- Data modelling decisions
- Governance and access control
Example
On a real data warehouse build project, the project dashboard would be shaped by building a central data warehouse for analytics. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — source-system integration, data modelling decisions, governance and access control — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.