The typical ROI-based business case will not work well for selling a data warehousing initiative to upper management. While there may be some long-term savings that can be quantified, they will almost certainly be outweighed by costs.

The real benefits of data warehousing are indirect: the ability of your company to make better, faster decisions resulting in cost savings or increased revenue. For example, a data warehouse can help a manufacturer identify poorly performing suppliers, or uncover sales patterns that could be exploited to boost the top line.

In spite of the ROI issue, data warehouses do offer benefits that address specific management pain points. The following checklist is a list of key points you should highlight when you go before any group of upper-level managers to pitch a data warehousing initiative.

The attached Zip file includes:

• Intro Page.doc

• How to Sell a Data Warehouse to Upper Management Checklist.doc