KIMBALL vs INMON

A presentation by
W H Inmon
the essence of the difference between Inmon and Kimball

Inmon –
there needs to be a single
version of the truth
data
mart

data
mart

data finance
mart
marketing

sales
data
mart

mgmt
integrated
historical
granular

single version HR
data
warehouse of the truth
the essence of the difference between Inmon and Kimball

the question being answered – what is the single version

of the truth? what is corporate data?

data
mart

data
mart

data finance
mart
marketing

sales
data
mart

mgmt
integrated
historical
granular

single version HR
data
warehouse of the truth
the essence of the difference between Inmon and Kimball

Kimball – a data warehouse is the union

of all of the data marts

data mart

a data mart is based on

business function –
data Ralph Kimball
mart
finance

data
mart

sales

HR
the essence of the difference between Inmon and Kimball

the question being answered – how quickly can I

build reports? how quickly can I do analysis?

data mart

data
mart
finance

data
mart

sales

HR
 over time the architectures have evolved

1990 2000 2010

Inmon – Inmon – Inmon –
Single version an architecture DW 2.0,
of the truth corporate information unstructured data
factory

Kimball – Kimball –
Kimball – a need for
a union of conformed dimension
integration
data marts
1990 2000 2010
Inmon – Inmon – Inmon –
Single version an architecture DW 2.0,
of the truth corporate information unstructured data
factory

Kimball – Kimball –
Kimball – a need for
a union of conformed dimension
integration
data marts

Kimball is today where Inmon was in 1990

What has Kimball said to all of those people who
followed his teachings in 1990?
 the essence of the difference between Inmon and Kimball

1990 2000 2010 2020

Inmon – Inmon – Inmon –
Single version an architecture DW 2.0,
of the truth corporate unstructured data
information
factory

Kimball – Kimball – Kimball –

Kimball –
conformed a need for unstructured data
a union of
dimension integration belongs in a data
data marts
warehouse

prediction – in 2020 the Kimballites will “discover”

that textual data belongs in a data warehouse
 from an implementation perspective
Kimball Inmon

data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg mktg

sales sales
finance finance

mgmt mgmt

HR HR

Engineering Engineering

Production Production
 daily refreshment of data

data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg mktg

sales sales
finance finance

mgmt mgmt

HR HR

Engineering Engineering

Production Production

each of these lines must be crossed

at least once a day
 daily refreshment of data

data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg mktg

sales sales
finance finance

mgmt mgmt

HR HR

Engineering Engineering

Production Production

n
m m n

mxn m+n
 daily refreshment of data

data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg mktg

sales sales
finance finance

mgmt mgmt

HR HR

Engineering Engineering

Production Production

n
m m n

mxn how many programs have to be m+n

written? have to be maintained?
 daily refreshment of data

data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg mktg

sales sales
finance finance

mgmt mgmt

HR HR

Engineering Engineering

Production Production

n
m m n
which overnight batch processing
window do you want?
mxn m+n
 reconciliation

data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg $32000 mktg $32000

sales sales
finance $1000 finance $1000
mgmt mgmt

HR $1,009,087 HR $1,009,087

Engineering Engineering

Production Production

in which environment would you rather

do reconciliation?
 data data
appl marts appl marts

mktg mktg

sales sales
finance finance

mgmt mgmt

HR HR

Engineering Engineering

Production Production

in which environment would you rather add

a new data mart?
 from an architectural perspective

star schema relational based

(Kimball) data warehouse
(Inmon)
 star schema relational based
(Kimball) data warehouse
(Inmon)

good for fast reports

not a short term proposition
good for a system of record
as an end user I am confused…
there are 17 data marts that have information
and I don’t know which one to go to. And they
all have different information
every time there is a new requirement
I have to start from scratch. And these
darn data marts are hard to maintain.
I have to build a new one every time
there is a change in requirements
we have had data marts for five years now.
We have 250 of them and only 10 of them
are actually being used today……
I’ve got these auditors coming in and I don’t
have any data that I trust that I can show
them……
with Kimball, the star
with Inmon, the relational
schema is the architecture
foundation is only the start of
the architecture
 I n t e r a c tiv e
V ery
c u rre n t
T r a n s a c t io n
d a ta

A A A
p p p
p p p
l l l

In te g ra te d
C u rre n t+ +
T e x tu a l D e ta ile d C o n tin u o u s
s u b je c ts snapsho t
S S S S d a ta
In t e r n a l, e x te r n a l S im p le u u u u
p o in te r b b b b
C a p tu r e d P r o f il e S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
T e x t id ...... j j j

L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
T e x t to s u b j

N e a r lin e
L e s s th a n D e ta i le d
T e x tu a l C o n tin u o u s
c u rre n t
s u b je c ts snapshot
S S S S d a ta
In t e r n a l , e x te r n a l u u u u
S im p le
p o in te r b b b b
C a p tu re d P r o file S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
T e x t id ...... j j j

L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
Te x t to s u b j

A r c h iv a l
T e x tu a l D e ta ile d C o n tin u o u s
O ld e r s u b je c ts snapsho t
S S S S d a ta
In te r n a l, e x te rn a l u u u u
S im p le b b b b
C a p tu re d p o in te r P r o f il e S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
j j j
T e x t id ......
L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
T e x t to s u b j

the Inmon approach is a FULL architecture

leading to DW 2.0. And DW 2.0 is a true
full scale architecture
 In t e r a c tiv e
V ery
c u rre n t
T r a n s a c t io n
d a ta

A A A
p p p
p p p
l l l

In te g ra te d
C u r re n t+ +
T e x tu a l D e t a ile d C o n tin u o u s
s u b je c ts snapsho t
S S S S d a ta
In te r n a l, e x te r n a l S i m p le u u u u
p o in te r b b b b
C a p tu re d P r o f il e S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
T e x t id ...... j j j

L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
T e x t to s u b j

N e a r lin e
L e s s th a n
T e x tu a l D e ta ile d C o n tin u o u s
DW 2.0 supports some really important
architectural features –
c u rre n t
s u b je c ts snapsho t
S S S S d a ta
I n t e r n a l, e x te r n a l u u u u
S i m p le
p o in te r b b b b
C a p tu re d P r o file S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
T e x t id ... ... j j j

- the life cycle of data within the data warehouse

L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
T e x t to s u b j

- the accommodation for very large amounts

A r c h iv a l
D e ta ile d C o n tin u o u s
T e xtu a l
O ld e r s u b j e c ts snapsho t
S S S S d a ta
In t e r n a l, e x te rn a l u u u u
S i m p le b b b b
C a p tu re d p o in te r P r o f ile S S S

of data
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
j j j
T e x t id ... .. .
L in k a g e
S u m m ary
T e x t to s u b j

- the recognition that cost is the ultimate limiting

factor for a data warehouse
- unstructured data as an essential component
- metadata as an essential component

ask Kimball how he supports unstructured data?

ask Kimball how he supports metadata?
ask Kimball how he supports really large amounts of data?
ask Kimball how he supports archival data?
 corporate data

structured data unstructured data

the vast majority of corporate data is not structured

 the Inmon architecture is complete;
the Kimball architecture is not

structured data unstructured data

Kimball
structured data unstructured data

Inmon
 Kimball

Inmon
In te ra c tiv e
V e ry
c u rre n t
T r a n s a c t io n
d a ta

Florida
A A A
p p p
p p p
l l l

In te g ra te d
C u rre n t+ +
T e x tu a l D e t a ile d C o n ti n u o u s
s u b je c ts snaps ho t
S S S S d a ta
In t e r n a l, e x te r n a l S im p le u u u u
p o in t e r b b b b
C a p tu re d P r o f il e S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
T e x t id .. ... . j j j

L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
T e x t to s u b j

N e a r lin e
L e s s th a n D e ta il e d
Te x tu a l C o n tin u o u s
c u rre n t
s u b je c ts sna ps ho t
S S S S d a ta
In t e r n a l, e x te r n a l u u u u
S im p le
p o in t e r b b b b
C a p tu re d P r o file S S S
j j j j
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
j j j
T e x t i d .. .. ..
L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
Te x t to s u b j

A r c h iv a l
D e ta il e d C o n tin u o u s
T e x tu a l
O ld e r s u b je c t s s napsho t
S S S S d a ta
In t e r n a l, e x te r n a l u u u u
S i m p le b b b b
p o i n te r P r o file
C a p tu re d j j j j S S S
te x t d a ta u u u
b b b
j j j
T e x t id ... ...
L in k a g e
S u m m a ry
T e x t to s u b j

South America Bermuda

NYC Denver
Chicago Calgary
Hawaii Los Angeles
Sao Paolo Gold Coast
Mexico Florida
Canada Miami
San Francisco
Seattle

Kimball only addresses one small part

of architecture. Inmon addresses a much
more comprehensive picture
 data
data mart
mart
data
mart

data finance
mart marketing

sales
data
mart
mgmt

data
warehouse HR
integrated
historical
granular

how Inmon/Kimball fit together