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February 23, 2010

ten tips for selecting a data integration tool

As the economy begins to recover and more organizations are looking to increase their IT investment - we thought it would be helpful to highlight the following 'ten tips for selecting a data integrtion tool,' which were first published by Dr. David Waddington in his white paper entitled, "Data Integration: Total Cost of Ownership Really Matters."


  1. Implement and enforce strong data governance across your organization so that the definitions, standards, ownership, location and history (audit trail) of key enterprise data is understood.

  2. Implement a data quality program as an integral part of your data governance. This is not a once-off initiative.

  3. Select data integration tools that fully support the governance organization and provide tracking, audit trail, alerts and other similar key performance parameters to allow effective management of the process.

  4. Start small and grow. Don't be tempted to undertake a data integration or migration project using a 'big bang' approach.

  5. Choose a data integration tool that is designed for purpose and avoid tools that are composed of multiple (bolted together) and not necessarily well-integrated components or modules.

  6. Select tools that support a strong business-oriented focus for data integration. Many of today's tools are complex, sophisticated and difficult to learn, requiring specialists.

  7. Select a tool that will offer the scalability needed to encompass your future business needs.

  8. Seek vendors that can offer role-based implementation where (as described above) tasks currently undertaken by developers can be shared more effectively among your current experienced business staff.

  9. Steer clear of products that require you to hard code or embed business logic into the internals of the tool.

  10. Remember that total cost of ownership is what really matters. Not just the negotiation of license costs, but all cost aspects both now and in the future of your integration strategy.


Click here to download the entire paper and make sure to explore the wealth of information available for downloading without registration in our document center.

Posted by expressor software at February 23, 2010 8:45 AM

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