Data Warehousing for Biomedical Informatics

Data Warehousing for Biomedical Informatics is a step-by-step how-to guide for designing and building an enterprise-wide data warehouse across a biomedical or healthcare institution, using a four-iteration lifecycle and standardized design pattern. It enables you to quickly implement a fully-scalable generic data architecture that supports your organization’s clinical, operational, administrative, financial, and research data. By following the guidelines in this book, you will be able to successfully progress through the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma versions, plus fully implement your first production release in about a year.

The Alpha version allows you to implement just enough of the basic design pattern to illustrate its core capabilities while loading a small sampling of limited data for demonstration purposes. This provides an easy way for everyone involved to visualize the new warehouse paradigm by actually examining a core subset of the working system. You can finish the Alpha version, also referred to as the proof-of-concept, in as little as 3-4 weeks.

The Beta version, which can be completed in about 2-3 months, adds required functionality and much more data. It allows you to get the full warehouse up and running quickly, in order to facilitate longer-term planning, user and support team training, and setup of the operational environment. The Gamma version, which is a fully-functional system–though still lacking data–can be implemented in about 3-4 months. About one year after starting, you will be ready to launch Release 1.0 as a complete and secure data warehouse.

Richard E. Biehl is an information technology consultant with 37 years of experience, specializing in logical and physical data architectures, quality management, and strategic planning for the application of information technology. His research interests include semantic interoperability in biomedical data and the integration of chaos and complexity theories into the systems engineering of healthcare. Dr. Biehl holds a PhD in applied management and decision science and an MS in educational change and technology innovation from Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) and a Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) by the American Society for Quality (ASQ), Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dr. Biehl is a visiting instructor at the University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, Florida, in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS), teaching quality and systems engineering in the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems (IEMS) Department.