Sponsorship Models for Data Warehousing: Two Case Studies

Data warehouse projects can be characterized as very complex, cross-functional and long lasting. Slogans like ‘think big start small’ or ‘act local think global’ can be found in literature. But most methodologies for data warehousing only focus on technical aspects or short-term project management and do not provide applicable recommendations for coping with the evolution of data warehouse systems. Sponsorship models are often proposed to support long-term data warehouse success, but most descriptions are shallow and do not consider data warehouse characteristics or other factors, which influence the organizational design of the sponsorship structures. Therefore, this paper presents a two-tier sponsorship committee structure for mature data warehouse systems. Based on two descriptive case studies, underlying data warehouse characteristics as well as contextual conditions are illustrated and the appropriate organizational setup of the committee structures is specified in detail. This setup comprises duties, competencies and responsibilities as well as recommendations for business and IT representatives to be included into the committees.