Data Warehouse Build Status Report
This is a practical guide to building a status report for a data warehouse build project — a periodic summary of progress, issues and next steps, adapted to the realities of building a central data warehouse for analytics.
What a Status Report is
A status report is a periodic summary of progress, issues and next steps. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Status Report. 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 status report 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
- Overall RAG status
- Progress vs plan
- Key risks and issues
- Budget/schedule health
- Decisions needed
Data Warehouse Build-specific considerations
Tailor the status report 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 status report 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.