Those of us who write technical articles and deliver technical presentations are always on the lookout for the perfect data set for demonstration and testing. Microsoft has done a good job of putting together sample databases including Wide World Importers, AdventureWorks, and Northwind Traders. Personally, I’ve found each of these useful, but I had no particular attachment to any of them. So I created my own: the Dunder Mifflin data set.
Dunder Mifflin Data
I’ve been a fan of Dunder Mifflin ever since I first learned about this small midwestern paper company. Over the years I’ve gotten to know their people and processes, following from a distance their successes, failures, and various adventures. Who would have known the paper business would be so interesting?
Based on what I learned about this company, I built this Dunder Mifflin data set based on the old Northwind structure, adapting it to meet the needs of this small paper company. It includes most of the employees, regional locations (both current and now-closed), and has a modestly-sized set of sales data for demos and testing.
Contributions are Welcome
If any of you data professionals like the paper business as much as I do, you are welcomed to contribute to this data set. You can find it on GitHub. It’s got a lot of errors and omissions (some accidental, some purposeful to retain the realistic culture of this unique company) so feel free to modify and add pull requests to improve this set of data.
For those of you who like Dunder Mifflin, I hope you’ll data set will make you happier than Stanley Hudson on pretzel day.
Good work, such a funny show 🙂