An analytic power player is one that knows how to best use a company's dynamic information assets for competitive advantage, has a talent for developing information, and a passion for learning. He/she thinks fast, acts decisively, pursues tasks scientifically, and is choosy about what data environment he/she will work in. Data environments vary widely: from a single data mart - to a collection of data marts - to an enterprise data warehouses.

Power players always want rapid access to enterprise information across an entire organization. They want information that is fed continuously from data portals, transactions and countless sources, plus histories of data detail and receipt of new data in real-time. In short, these power players are data environmentalists. They are people who are very particular about the quality, scope and freshness of their data platforms.

If you're a power player, you'll want to know these 10 recommendations to gain advantage of an evolving, more centralized data source - an EDW:

• Look for Connections - Everything in your Business is Connected
• Those Who Forget the Past are Doomed to Relive it - Keep historical data, don't delete it.
• Save Energy, Save Time - do less data prep
• Think Global, Act Local - Analytics is a process, not a task
• Reuse and Recycle - your challenge is to get sustainable value
• If Not Now, then When - learn to operationalize insight
• It's Not What You Say; it's How You Say It - speak to the business in language they understand.
• Deeds, Not Words - to provide value, the model has to be put into production
• Measure Twice, Cut Once - the first step in planning is planning how to measure results, and
• See the Whole World - discipline yourself to think outside the box

The transition from traditional data warehousing to active data warehousing is particularly important in that it provides more aggressive service levels in the areas of data freshness, query performance and availability. These improvements enable more sophisticated analytics fueled by enterprise-class data for more effective decision-making, process execution and customer interaction.