Data Warehouse Strategy to Enable Performance Analysis

Abstract

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has engaged to implement an enterprise data warehouse as part of a strategic investment in its information technology (IT) infrastructure. Data warehousing provides an information architecture that serves as the enterprisewide source of data for performance analysis and organizational reporting. To assist VDOT in achieving its strategic outcome area objectives, a programming and scheduling (P&S) data mart is being developed to track preconstruction project activities. This data mart and subsequent data marts function as departmental decision support platforms, enabling VDOT’s operating divisions to perform their own enhanced analytical processing, visualization, and data mining for more informed business decision capabilities. Presented is a case study based on the enterprise data warehouse and P&S data mart being developed and implemented for VDOT by TransCore. Explicitly described is how one VDOT division, Programming and Scheduling, will benefit by investing in IT to achieve its strategic goals. The design approach, methodology, and implementation procedure for the P&S decision support data mart are detailed. The methodology for capturing the performance measures that have been defined by the P&S division in the context of its strategic outcome areas is highlighted. Recommended future direction and the technologies that the agency should adopt to continue to maximize their IT investment are outlined.