Analysis of a Research Paper: Data Warehouse Design Methodologies

This report provides a detailed review of a research paper focusing on the application of software engineering methodologies in data warehouse design. The paper introduces the 4WD design method, aiming to enhance the quality and efficiency of data warehouse projects. The review analyzes the intention, content, and research methods employed, including qualitative analysis and experimentation. The findings highlight the benefits of the 4WD method, such as faster project execution, improved documentation, and automation. The report discusses the research's originality, credibility, and the practical implications of the proposed design. The conclusion emphasizes the effectiveness of the 4WD methodology in addressing challenges related to data analysis requirements and project management, offering insights into its application in real-world scenarios.

Running head: REVIEW OF RESEARCH PAPER
REVIEW OF RESEARCH PAPER
Name of student
Name of university
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
The intention and content of the article:................................................................................2
The research method:.............................................................................................................3
Findings of the research:........................................................................................................3
Problems or issues highlighted by the authors:......................................................................4
Discussion on result:..............................................................................................................4
Conclusion of the research:....................................................................................................4
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................5
References:.................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction:
The article that is identified in this report for analysis is a research paper on application of
software methodologies for designing data warehouse system.
The main purpose of the report is to analyse the research findings as provided in the article
chose in this context. The aim is not to summarise the research findings that the authors have
describe in the chosen research paper, but to provide a critical analysis of the research
findings and for this appropriate literatures will also be considered as well.
Fists the research context of the research paper will be identified to ensure that the analysis is
in accordance with the research article. Then the findings will be analysed in details along
with the research method considered by the authors for this research. The report will then
describe the research result in terms of originality and credibility of the research, especially
what approaches the authors have considered for providing the result results. Along with this,
a detailed discussion will also be provided on the research conclusion as well in this context
so that it provides a comprehensive and detailed idea regarding the research article.
Discussion:
Intention and content:
The authors have intended to provide an effective technique for applying methodologies
considered in modern software engineering in projects related to data warehouse to enhance
the quality of these projects.
The authors in this research article have described different issues related to methodologies
considered in data warehouse design and also provide strategies for improving the process for
developing data warehouse.
In order to ensure that the methodologies of modern software engineering properly, the
authors have provided a design methodology, 4WD, which according to the article provides
an effective context for applying modern software engineering methodologies into data
warehouse projects.
The article has first described what are issues that clients as well as developers are often are
not satisfied in the project. According to the author most of the time in projects, requirements
for the data analyses are often described due to flexible structure in decision making process
and lack of strategies for sharing it across organizations. This is an important issue that the

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article has identified as ensuing proper decision making process is often a significant issue in
projects, especially for large organizations and projects that are complex to execute [1].
Along with this other important issues identified by the authors include ensuing interest of
clients throughout the execution of the data warehouse project, managing complexity of data
warehouse projects.
In order to ensure that the issues are managed properly, the authors have suggested four
different qualities related to the software development process, that is to ensure reliability,
robustness, productivity and timeliness of a process so that it is easier to manage data
warehouse projects effectively and efficiently.
All of these qualities are important because in executing complex projects like data
warehouse projects, process that are applied for managing these projects should ensure these
qualities of which productivity is an essential requirement [2].
Research method:
In order to identify issues in data warehouse projects, related literatures have been analysed.
Analysis of literatures also include identification of proposed methods provided by previous
researchers. Advantages and disadvantages of these methods were also identified to propose
an effective method that not only consider these issues but also provide context for improving
these issues. A design method is therefore proposed and applied in actual project to analyse
the benefits of this method. The authors have considered qualitative analysis in this context to
describe what are the benefits that this proposed design method provides in terms of project
quality and project execution. Therefore, the research method has considered experiment for
describing research findings.
Research findings:
When the 4WD design method is applied in actual project, it provided various benefits. The
method through large involvement of clients and extensive prototyping, made the execution
of project faster and this is one of the significant advantages of the proposed design method.
It allowed users to access a web portal to identify errors, analyse answers provided by the
project team and also identify the state of the project. The design method also made it easier
to improve the structure of the project reports and identify errors in source data easily.
However, the errors that were identified were related to incorrect data. Users due to their
empirical knowledge, found it difficult to ensure reasoning from abstract context, for
example, evaluation of ETL flow or report structure when no data was loaded. However,

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partial reuse of existing reports and dimension report reduced the implementation effort as
these are quite standard. However, in case of ETL, strong personalization was required and
therefore reuse only included some standard routines that were provided by the ETL suite.
When the project adopted the DFM for conceptual model, it helped designer in producing a
concise but effective documentation, and also allowed them to ensure proper application of
CASE tool for automating logical design as well.
Issues of the research:
Although the researcher have not explicitly described about the research challenges that they
have identified while conducting this research , it might be assumed from the analysis of the
content, that lack of reference for application their proposed method might be a challenge.
Most of the previous research regarding data warehouse design, as the authors have discussed
only identified application of traditional linear approaches such as waterfall approach and
therefore, application of modern software engineering methodologies required original
approach and therefore it was challenging, although not mentioned explicitly in the research
article [3].
Analysis of the research result provided:
The research result was provided not only from the theoretical perspective, but those results
were obtained through application and validated through experiment. The proposed design
method was applied in project of pay-tvs where the project was required to complete within a
duration of 6 months and it was executed by an Italian system integrator with specialization
in BI applications.
Therefore, this not only enhances the credibility of the research result, it enhances the
applicability of the result as well, especially if application in actual projects is considered.
Conclusion of the research described:
The article along with describing iteration cycles that are considered for designing the 4WD
design methodology has also described required activities that needs to be executed for each
of the iteration cycles. These iteration cycles are the data mart cycle, the fact cycle, the
modelling cycles and the implementation cycles. Therefore, it is easier to identify how this
design method is actually applied in projects and what are the required activities that needs to
be executed in this context.
It is not only enough to provide theoretical explanation of how a design methodology should
be applied in a project, it is also important to apply the methodology in projects and for data

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warehouse projects, it is an essential requirement [4]. Therefore, application of this
methodology in actual project is required due to complexity of executing these projects
effectively and efficiently [5].
The authors in this research have identified this requirement and discussed the application of
their propose design methodology to describe its applicability in actual project related to data
warehouse.
Conclusion:
The authors have provided an effective technique to apply methodologies that are considered
in modern software engineering for projects that are related to data warehouse for enhancing
the quality of these projects. The article has described different issues in the data warehouse
project. According to the author most of the time in projects, requirements related to the data
analyses are not properly described due to consideration of flexible structure for decision
making process and also lack of proper strategies for sharing it across organizations. In order
to ensure that the issues are managed properly, the authors have suggested four different
qualities related to the software development process, that is to ensure reliability, robustness,
productivity and timeliness of a process so that it is easier to manage data warehouse projects
effectively and efficiently.
In order to manage the issues properly, the authors have proposed four different qualities in
reference to the software development process, which include reliability, robustness,
productivity and timeliness of a process so that it is easier to manage data warehouse projects
effectively and efficiently.
The 4WD design methodologies is designed in reference to these four qualities described and
application of this method in the data warehouse projects provides various benefits, but the
main advantage is faster execution of project along with enhancement of project
documentation process and automation in logical design required for the project. Therefore,
this is an effective design methodology in data warehouse projects in terms of project
execution and project quality as well.

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References:
[1]Н. РУДНИЧЕНКО, "FLEXIBLE METHODOLOGIES EFFICIENCY RESEARCH IN
PRACTICE OF MODERN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES", Transport
development, no. 11, pp. 171-177, 2017. Available: 10.33082/td.2017.1-1.20.
[2]K. Deshpande and B. Desai, "Model for Assessment of Agile Methodology for
Implementing Data Warehouse Projects", International Journal of Applied Information
Systems, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 42-49, 2015. Available: 10.5120/ijais2015451446.
[3]"Business Metadata: Linking Enterprise Goals with Data Warehouse", International
Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 883-886, 2015. Available:
10.21275/v5i5.nov163470.
[4]D. Asrani, D. Jain and D. Saxena, "Data Warehouse Development Standardization
Framework (DWDSF): A Way to Handle Data Warehouse Failure", IOSR Journal of
Computer Engineering, vol. 19, no. 01, pp. 29-38, 2017. Available: 10.9790/0661-
1901022938.
[5]"Data Processing through Data Warehouse and Data mining", International Journal of
Modern Trends in Engineering & Research, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 45-48, 2017. Available:
10.21884/ijmter.2017.4151.1ea3x.