Supporting the design of data integration requirements during the development of data warehouses: a communication theory-based approach

Abstract

Data warehouses (DW) form the backbone of data integration that is necessary for analytical applications, and play important roles in the information technology landscape of many industries. We introduce an approach for addressing the fundamental problem of semantic heterogeneity in the design of data integration requirements during DW development. In contrast to ontology-driven or schema-matching approaches, which propose the automatic resolution of differences ex-post, our approach addresses the core problem of data integration requirements: understanding and resolving different contextual meanings of data fields. We ground the approach firmly in communication theory and build on practices from agile software development. Besides providing relevant insights for the design of data integration requirements, our findings point to communication theory as a sound underlying foundation for a design theory of information systems development.

Keywords:

• common ground
• communication theory
• data integration requirements
• data warehouse development
• agile software development
• information systems development

Disclaimer

The authors of this publication did not receive funding, monetary compensation, or sponsorship from zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates gmbh, which sells services and develops products related to research described in this paper. In addition, two of the authors are employees of zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates gmbh.

Disclaimer

The authors of this publication did not receive funding, monetary compensation, or sponsorship from zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates gmbh, which sells services and develops products related to research described in this paper. In addition, two of the authors are employees of zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates gmbh.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editors and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback and suggestions that helped to considerably improve the paper. The conference audience at ICIS 2010 also contributed with valuable comments to an earlier version. In addition, we would like to thank zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates gmbh, and especially Mr. Sven Krämer, for his help in data access and implementing the artifacts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christoph Rosenkranz

About the authors

Christoph Rosenkranz is Full Professor of Information Systems at University of Cologne. He holds Diploma and doctoral degrees from the University of Münster and Goethe University, respectively. His research focuses on integrated information systems as socio-technical systems, business process management, information systems development and IT project management, and online communities. He has published articles in such outlets as ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, Business & Information Systems Engineering, Information Systems Journal, Journal of Database Management, Journal of Information Technology, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems.

Roland Holten

Roland Holten is Full Professor of Information Systems at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems (Dr. rer. pol., University of Muenster, Germany). His research interests include IT-mediated communication structures of groups, information systems development, and IS modeling. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Information Technology, Information Systems Journal, Information Systems, Journal of the Association of Information Systems, Journal of Database Management, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, and Business & Information Systems Engineering.

Marc Räkers

Marc Räkers is Senior Manager at zeb holding a MScIS degree from the University of Münster and currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program of the University of Frankfurt. His research focuses on financial data warehousing and integrated finance and risk management for banking. He has published in the proceedings of conferences such as ICIS and ECIS. He has worked in information system projects for various financial institutions and data centers since the 1990s and is product manager for a bank management software suite.

Wolf Behrmann

Wolf Behrmann (MSCIS) works as a management consultant (Senior Manager) at zeb and is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program of the University of Frankfurt. His research focuses on financial data warehousing projects, specifically in connection with communication theory. He has published his work in proceedings of international information system conferences (ECIS, ICIS). As a practitioner, he has worked in several data warehousing and IT strategy projects for various financial institutions since the 1990s and is one of the leaders of the practice group IT strategy at zeb.