Tool Mentor: Customizing the Rational Insight Data Warehouse
This tool mentor describes the main steps you need to perform when you customize the tool, and it points to other elements, such as examples, templates, on-line help topics that can help you.
Tool: IBM Rational Insight
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Main Description
1. Perform a gap analysis

In order to customize and configure the warehouse to be able to physically hold the data that is required, you need to assess what the current warehouse can physically support and what changes, if any, are needed to the physical model.

The purpose of this step is to help you complete these tasks:

  • Gain clarity about the measure requirement (issues with the requirements will surface in this first pass)
  • Understand how the data will map into the two areas of the warehouse, the operational data store and the data mart
  • Document and track decisions and changes

You can use the Rational Insight Deployment Gap Analysis template to perform this step. For a concrete example, see the Rational Insight Deployment Gap Analysis one.

2. Implement the physical changes to the warehouse

To physically implement changes to the warehouse, you can use a database modeling tool, such as InfoSphere Data Architect.

The Rational Insight data warehouse consists of three physical schemas: CONFIG, RIODS, and RIDW.

  • The CONFIG schema consists of a few tables that serve as control or provide information about the warehouse.
  • RIODS is the schema under which the operational data store is deployed.
  • RIDW is the schema under which the data mart is deployed. It is mostly a star schema.

Using the results of your gap analysis, changes might be required in either or both the operational data store and the data mart. 

For more information

For more details on the Insight warehouse and the use of InfoSphere Data Architect to customize the warehouse,  see the following sections in Rational Insight’s Information Center:

  • Product overview > Introduction to Rational Insight > Product and architecture overview > IBM Rational Insight data warehouse
  • Administering > Administering Rational Insight > Customizing IBM Rational Insight Data Warehouse
  • Tutorials > Do and Learn > Customizing the extract, transform, and load (ETL) process > Module 2: Customize the data mart > Lesson 2.1: Customize the default schema of the data warehouse
More Information