I had the pleasure of interviewing Ralph Kimball on one of his many visits to Slovenia, where he was always happy to come both to deliver trainings and to spend time relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Bled region. The interview was first published in Info SRC.SI 2005/Issue 42, p. 5-7.
1. This is your sixth visit to Slovenia. What brings you back?
Slovenia is a beautiful country and pleasant to visit. Also, the IT professionals in Slovenia are interested in data warehousing, which I teach each time I visit Slovenia!
2. You have been involved with data warehousing since its early beginnings. How do you see the evolving data warehouse from its early implementations to its recent widespread adoption? Do you believe data warehousing is fulfilling its promise to make information easier to access? What is still lacking?
In some ways, the goals of data warehousing have changed very little from the earliest days around 1980. The goal of the data warehouse has always been to...