hows an NHS (data warehouse)interview like....????

dwinterview

Hello Guys....please help...

I have an interview with NHS for a data ware house role and for which they have asked me to prepare a presentation on a topic "Describe how you would establish the operational (service) requirements for the data warehouse? I have 10 minutes for the presentation"

But I am a little confused with what i should put in the presentation. Please can anyone tell me the topics that I should cover under this question and what exactly do they expect from me from the presentation.

do they want me to demonstrate the data warehouse architecture with the different components. Does operation (Service) requirement mean the functional requirements or the business requirements.

should I include any of the following topics:
Requirement Gathering (with use cases)
Data modeling
ETL
OLAP cube
Report Development

Please can anyone help me with this...

Thank you....!!

Wyndham

I read operational (serive) requirements as business requirements. I think they are looking for how you would work with the 'business' side of the company, to find out what they need. So include talking to people! You can say something about the archtecture, but I think they'd want it along the lines of 'if they said x, I'd suggest y as a model' rather than anything in depth.

What does the job description say? Is it a role which does face the operational side, or is it more of a backroom role? That may also help your thinking.

agrinnall

I agree with Wyndham. From the presentation topic you've given I wouldn't go much beyond the requirements gathering phase of the overall design. They probably realise that to do the whole thing would be a lot of work and take up a lot of time so they've just picked one part of it so that they can compare all of the candidates equally.

Good luck!

Edit: Oh, and make sure you check your spelling and grammar, if your presentation contains anything like your thread title they'll be put off straight away.

ohreally

Do you know what job profile the job is matched to...take a look here http://www.nhsemployers.org/PayAndContracts/AgendaForChange/NationalJobProfiles/Documents/Information_Management_and_Technology.pdf
then you can draw from this to build a picture of whats involved within the role.

dwinterview

hey guys thanks for answering back

it is a data warehouse support role. and the duties involve.

To manage the operational function of the data warehouse on a daily basis and act as a first point of contact for all enquiries regarding the Data Warehouse.

To manage the day to day operational function of the data warehouse.

To take service requirements and construct them into publishable reports in SQL and excel

To play an active part in the monthly reporting process, writing queries, extracting data, constructing reports.

To support the services in developing and publishing adhoc reports

lr1277

From what you have written, this sounds like a SQL reporting role.

I hope I am not telling you stuff you already know but.....

So to establish a data warehouse, yes I agree you need to talk to the users and find out their reporting requirements. Then you need to work out what data you need to gather to satisfy their requirements.
On the basis this is a new data warehouse, you need to work out where you are going to get the data from i.e. which system. Go and talk to the system manager to find out if the data is available from their system. This includes talking to the system administrator of the hospital's administration system. Sometimes not all the required data will be available. So you either find an alternative or go and talk to the users to help them amend their requirements.

If you have never worked in the NHS before (I am guessing from your other thread), you will find there are any number of clinical people who have a technical background (as well) or think they understand the technical side. Often they tell you what the solution is without telling you what the problem is and letting you work out the solution. (I suspect this can be found in any industry). This makes for an easier life as you are doing what the 'client' wants but may not meet their needs. It is only when you probe a bit further that you find their envisaged solution won't solve their problem.

As an aside, if there is no central data warehouse already, there will be any number of data repositories in Access and Excel. And these will have become essential to the running of an department. It will be upto the I.T. department on how to deal with these.

bcfc2004

What part of the country is this role advertised in dw? Reason I ask is that I worked on the NHS reporting systems for the new contract before I was made redundant and am maybe looking to get back into it working for the NHS direct..

sql_warehouse

..just sent you a PM..check it ...