What is old is new again?

This is what I have been doing for years - working in a team that gets requirements and produce reports.  We are the jack of all trades (& quite often, masters of none).  It is our job to understand where data comes from.  Its our job to form that data into useful outputs that can be used from the payments clerks through to the board of directors.

We have been trying to sell the concept of a self service data warehouse and analytical models for nearly 3 years with not a lot of joy.  While those who make the big decisions understand the power of data, they would prefer that someone else does the work for them - they simply don't care.