Utility-cost tradeoffs in the design of data resources

This chapter introduces a novel perspective for designing and maintaining data resources. Data and the information systems that manage it, are critical organizational resources. Today the design and the maintenance of data management environments are driven primarily by technical and functional requirements. We suggest that economic considerations, such as the utility gained by the use of data resources and the costs involved in implementing and maintaining them, may significantly affect data management decisions. We propose an analytical framework for analyzing utility-cost tradeoffs and optimizing design. Its application is demonstrated for analyzing certain design decisions in a data warehouse environment. The analysis considers variability and inequality in the utility of data resources, and possible uncertainties with usage and implementation.