Ralph Kimball

Ralph Kimball, is an author on the subject of data warehousing and business intelligence. He is known for long-term convictions that data warehouses must be designed to be understandable and fast. His methodology also known as dimensional modeling or the Kimball methodology is frequently used to allow sharing of conformed dimensions.

He writes the "Data Warehouse Designer" column for Intelligent Enterprise magazine and is the author of best-selling books The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit and the Data Webhouse Toolkit published by Wiley and Sons. He is listed in the Database Hall of Fame.

Career
After receiving a Ph.D. in 1972 from Stanford University in electrical engineering (specializing in man-machine systems), Ralph joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). At PARC Ralph participated in development of the Xerox Star Workstation, the first commercial product to use mice, icons and windows.

Ralph then became vice president of applications at Metaphor Computer Systems, a decision support software and services provider. He developed the Capsule Facility in 1982. The Capsule was a graphical programming technique which connected icons together in a logical flow, allowing a very visual style of programming for non-programmers. The Capsule was used to build reporting and analysis applications at Metaphor.

Ralph founded Red Brick Systems in 1986, serving as CEO until 1992. Red Brick Systems, now owned by IBM, was known for its relational database optimized for data warehousing.

Ralph Kimball Associates incorporated in 1992 to provide data warehouse consulting and education.

The Kimball Group formalized existing long-term relationships between Ralph Kimball Associates, DecisionWorks Consulting, and InfoDynamics LLC.