Data warehousing questions

I searched through the 40,000 or so newsgroups, trying all kinds of different keywords, but had no success finding a newsgroup whose focus was data warehousing. So my first question is, does anybody know of such a newsgroup(s)?

Having said that, I will ask my questions and see if anybody in this group would care to answer!

Question1:
I attended several DW related sessions at the IOUG conference a few weeks ago, and the topic of star schemas for DWs and data marts (DMs) was raised on a few occasions. While everybody seemed to be in agreement that star schemas should be used for DMs, there was some debate as to using them vs. normalized design for DWs. The debate seemed to be around simplified load programs for loading DMs from a DW and performance of the DW both for loading and drill downs (star schemas) vs. flexibility of the DW to respond to changing business requirements (normalized DW). Any personal experience out there that can attest to one approach or philosophy being better than the other?

Question2:
Regarding ETT/ETL tools, I have heard debate on code generator tools vs. engine based tools. There seems to be some indication that engine based is better, but the vendors's definitions of these terms seem nebulous at best. Can somebody clarify these classifications of ETT/ETL tools for me?

I would also be interested in any opinions on specific vendor offerings (no vendor responses please). Completeness of solution, ease of use, vendor support, cost, etc.

Thanks Received on Fri May 07 1999 - 16:43:04 CDT