Analytics Engineering
| Analytics Engineering | |
|---|---|
| Space owner | @apd-dli, @apd-jmiller, @apd-wguicheney, @apd-bbrewington |
| Skills | 2 launched 1 in review · 9 proposed |
| Folder | skills/analytics-engineering/ |
| Backlog | Skill Idea issues |
| Practice | DE-AIE & DA |
Home › Analytics Engineering
Skills for data modeling, transformation, warehouse development, and AE content, plus the external dbt and platform skills AE relies on.
For rules on sharing client material, see Handling Outputs.
Skill catalog
| Skill | Version | What it does | Invoke |
|---|---|---|---|
apd-data-modeling-decision |
1.0 | Guides selection of a modeling approach (Data Vault, Inmon/3NF, Kimball, star/snowflake, OBT, lakehouse raw-plus-marts) and produces a decision memo: options, recommendation, tradeoffs, impacted assets | $apd-data-modeling-decision / /apd-data-modeling-decision |
apd-ae-content-reviewer |
1.0 | Reviews content drafts against AE pillars: concise, story-led, solution-focused, cross-practice, technology-agnostic, data-backed. Depends on Anthropic docx/pptx skills for those file types |
$apd-ae-content-reviewer / /apd-ae-content-reviewer |
External skills AE uses
Tracked and version-pinned in skills/_external/:
- dbt Agent Skills (dbt Labs): dbt-extras, dbt-migration, and more
- Databricks AI Dev Kit: Databricks development skills
- Anthropic skills: document skills (xlsx, docx, pptx, pdf) that AE skills depend on for file handling
Where skills fit the AE Delivery Lifecycle
How launched skills, work in review, and the idea backlog map onto a typical AE engagement: Approach selection → Model design & build → Validation & quality → Documentation & diagrams → Enablement & content.
Launched 
| Skill | Stage | What it does |
|---|---|---|
apd-data-modeling-decision |
Approach selection | Defensible modeling-approach decision memo (built from #28) |
apd-ae-content-reviewer |
Enablement & content | Pillar-aligned review of AE thought leadership and enablement drafts |
In review 
| PR | Skill | Stage | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| #90 | Analytics engineering project scaffolder skills | Model design & build | Open PR by @apd-azeng, review required |
Proposed 
| Issue | Skill idea | Stage | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| #4 | Data Modeling agent skill | Model design & build | Umbrella for an end-to-end modeling assistant (@apd-fsanchez) |
| #34 | AI + AE Data Modeling Assistant | Model design & build | Hands-on modeling copilot for AE engagements (@apd-jmiller) |
| #29 | Kimball Modeling - Best Practices | Model design & build | Codifies Aimpoint best practices for Kimball dimensional modeling (@apd-prao) |
| #30 | Data Vault Modeling - Best Practices | Model design & build | Codifies Aimpoint best practices for Data Vault modeling |
| #33 | Data Modeling Industry Quick Starts | Model design & build | Industry-specific starter models to accelerate design (@apd-jgomez) |
| #63 | dbt-in-production perspective | Model design & build | Aimpoint's standards and perspective for running dbt in production |
| #31 | Foundational Data Validation | Validation & quality | Baseline validation checks for newly built models (@apd-fmoya) |
| #97 | ERD Diagram | Documentation & diagrams | Generates entity-relationship diagrams from models |
| #98 | Platform Architecture | Documentation & diagrams | Platform architecture diagrams (may land in platform-eng) |
Approach selection and enablement are covered; the modeling-build stage is where nearly all proposed-skill energy is going (#29/#30 implement the frameworks that apd-data-modeling-decision chooses between). Validation & quality has a single idea (#31), a thin spot if we want lifecycle-wide coverage. Alteryx documentation (#80) is tracked on the Analytics Experience page; its placeholder folder lives in skills/analytics-experience/.
Typical workflows
- New client warehouse design: run
apd-data-modeling-decisionwith the client environment context → get a defensible decision memo you can walk stakeholders through - Publishing thought leadership: draft →
apd-ae-content-reviewerfor a pillar-aligned critique and tightened rewrite →apd-brand-voice(shared) if the piece needs full brand-voice polish
Playbook tips
- Feed
apd-data-modeling-decisionreal constraints (team size, platform, volumes); theory-only inputs produce theory-only memos - Reviewing docx/pptx drafts requires the external Anthropic document skills to be installed
- Migration work overlaps with the shared
alteryx-to-databrickseffort; check before duplicating
Skill ideas / roadmap
Candidates for dedicated AE skills. Open a Skill Idea issue to claim one, or pick up an existing tracked idea:
Tracked as issues (9 open, mapped on the lifecycle above)
- [ ] [#4](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/4) Data Modeling agent skill - [ ] [#29](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/29) Kimball Modeling - Best Practices - [ ] [#30](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/30) Data Vault Modeling - Best Practices - [ ] [#31](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/31) Foundational Data Validation - [ ] [#33](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/33) Data Modeling Industry Quick Starts - [ ] [#34](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/34) AI + AE Data Modeling Assistant - [ ] [#63](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/63) dbt-in-production perspective - [ ] [#97](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/97) ERD Diagram - [ ] [#98](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/98) Platform ArchitectureUnclaimed candidates (not yet tracked, open an issue to claim)
- [ ] dbt project code review against APD AE standards - [ ] Source-to-target mapping generator - [ ] Data quality test scaffolding (dbt tests from model docs; overlaps with [#31](https://github.com/Aimpoint-Digital/apd-agent-skills/issues/31), consolidate before claiming)Learning resources
- AI in Analytics Engineering: OpenAI Quickstart (PDF)
- ChatGPT Quickstart by the AI in AE team: incoming, tracked in #55
Contacts
- Space owners: @apd-dli, @apd-jmiller, @apd-wguicheney, @apd-bbrewington
- Questions → Office Hours or the Support Desk
See also: Skill Catalog · Handling Outputs · skills/analytics-engineering/ · Skill Idea issues