Ralph Kimball
Encyclopedia
Ralph Kimball is an author on the subject of data warehousing and business intelligence
. He is widely regarded as one of the original architects of data warehousing and is known for long-term convictions that data warehouses must be designed to be understandable and fast. His methodology, also known as dimensional modeling
or the Kimball methodology, has become the de facto standard in the area of decision support. Compared with the approach of the other pioneering architect of data warehousing, Bill Inmon
, Kimball's approach is often wrongly characterized as a bottom-up approach.
He writes the "Data Warehouse Designer" column for Intelligent Enterprise magazine and is the author of the best-selling books The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit and The Data Warehouse Toolkit, published by Wiley and Sons. He is listed in the Database Hall of Fame.
in electrical engineering (specializing in man-machine systems), Ralph joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). At PARC Ralph participated in development of the Xerox Star
Workstation, the first commercial product to use mice, icons and windows.
Kimball then became vice president of applications at Metaphor Computer Systems, a decision support software
and services provider. He developed the Capsule Facility in 1982. The Capsule was a graphical programming technique which connected icons together in a logical flow, allowing a very visual style of programming for non-programmers. The Capsule was used to build reporting and analysis applications at Metaphor.
Kimball founded Red Brick Systems in 1986, serving as CEO until 1992. Red Brick Systems was acquired by Informix, which is now owned by IBM
. Red Brick was known for its relational database
optimized for data warehousing. Their claim to fame was the use of Indexes
in order to achieve performance gains that amounted to almost 10 times that of other Database vendors at that time.
Ralph Kimball Associates incorporated in 1992 to provide data warehouse consulting and education.
The Kimball Group formalized existing long-term relationships between Ralph Kimball Associates, DecisionWorks Consulting, and InfoDynamics LLC.
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
. He is widely regarded as one of the original architects of data warehousing and is known for long-term convictions that data warehouses must be designed to be understandable and fast. His methodology, also known as dimensional modeling
Dimensional modeling
Dimensional modeling is the name of a set of techniques and concepts used in data warehouse design. It is considered to be different from entity-relationship modeling . Dimensional Modeling does not necessarily involve a relational database. The same modeling approach, at the logical level, can be...
or the Kimball methodology, has become the de facto standard in the area of decision support. Compared with the approach of the other pioneering architect of data warehousing, Bill Inmon
Bill Inmon
William Harvey Inmon is an American computer scientist, recognized by many as the father of the data warehouse. Bill Inmon wrote the first book, held the first conference , wrote the first column in a magazine and was the first to offer classes in data warehousing...
, Kimball's approach is often wrongly characterized as a bottom-up approach.
He writes the "Data Warehouse Designer" column for Intelligent Enterprise magazine and is the author of the best-selling books The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit and The Data Warehouse Toolkit, published by Wiley and Sons. He is listed in the Database Hall of Fame.
Career
After receiving a Ph.D. in 1972 from Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in electrical engineering (specializing in man-machine systems), Ralph joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). At PARC Ralph participated in development of the Xerox Star
Xerox Star
The Star workstation, officially known as the Xerox 8010 Information System, was introduced by Xerox Corporation in 1981. It was the first commercial system to incorporate various technologies that today have become commonplace in personal computers, including a bitmapped display, a window-based...
Workstation, the first commercial product to use mice, icons and windows.
Kimball then became vice president of applications at Metaphor Computer Systems, a decision support software
Decision support system
A decision support system is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in...
and services provider. He developed the Capsule Facility in 1982. The Capsule was a graphical programming technique which connected icons together in a logical flow, allowing a very visual style of programming for non-programmers. The Capsule was used to build reporting and analysis applications at Metaphor.
Kimball founded Red Brick Systems in 1986, serving as CEO until 1992. Red Brick Systems was acquired by Informix, which is now owned by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
. Red Brick was known for its relational database
Relational database
A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...
optimized for data warehousing. Their claim to fame was the use of Indexes
Index (database)
A database index is a data structure that improves the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table at the cost of slower writes and increased storage space...
in order to achieve performance gains that amounted to almost 10 times that of other Database vendors at that time.
Ralph Kimball Associates incorporated in 1992 to provide data warehouse consulting and education.
The Kimball Group formalized existing long-term relationships between Ralph Kimball Associates, DecisionWorks Consulting, and InfoDynamics LLC.