Newbie Creating a Data Mart

Hello,

this is my first (of many I'm sure) post in the Kimball forum. I've been working with relational databases for about 10 years now, but just starting to get into the dimensional modeling world recently.

My first question is which of the Kimball books should i start with? I've been reading a lot about dimensional modeling online and in forums and noticed that there are a lot of different Kimball books on the subject, but would like to know what order I should be reading them.

My second question is the idea of a "data mart". I work at an insurance company that does only homeowner's insurance and some of our business areas relate to policy transactions, claims, etc.. so i was thinking that I would build a separate "data mart" or database for each process, but I've also seen many people create the dimensional model using just one database as the data mart. Is it best practice to create a separate data mart for each process or to keep all of the facts and dimensions in one data mart which would be just one database? I figured that many of the dimensions would be reused by different areas, so maybe creating just one data mart would make sense instead of having the dimensions reside in separate data marts.

thanks for your help. This is a great forum with loads of information!!

"Data mart" is such an overused term. You should start thinking Data Warehouse. Facts based on business processes, not departments. But, once you get into the Kimball books, this will be made more clear.

Which book to start with? My opinion would be dependant on how much of the overall Data Warehouse Lifecycle you see yourself being involved. Obviously, if you will be part of the multiple stages of the lifecycle, then you should start with the DW Lifecycle Toolkit, 2nd ed. It has so much information about the entire process without harping on one area for too long. You mentioned dimensional modeling, so at a minimum, you should read the DW Toolkit, 2nd ed. Personally, I've read it thru once, and use it more as a reference now.

Hope that helps.