Data warehouse is basically a database that is used for reporting and analysis. The data that is stored in the warehouse is uploaded from the operational systems such as marketplace, sales etc. and passed through an operational data store for any kind of additional operations before they are used in the data warehousing for reporting. Enterprise data warehouse is a service offered by the data services department of the information services and technology division. It helps in consolidating data from multiple sources in support of campus wide decision making and related information needs such as planning, analysis and reporting.
If defined more precisely, enterprise data warehousing is a centralized warehouse that provides services for the entire enterprise. Similar to data warehouse it is a specialized data center that may have several interpretations. It has basically emerged from the convergence of opportunity, infrastructure, capability and also the need for data that has exceptionally increased in the last few years. This was because technology has been advancing spontaneously and business enterprises tried to do their best to catch up and be on the top of industry competition. Contrary to popular sentiment, data warehousing is not a moribund technology and is alive and kicking. In fact many of the companies deploy data warehousing technology to some extent and also have an enterprise-wide data warehouse.
Some of the principles that govern the enterprise data warehouse design are:
• Organizational consensus – if your knowledge workers and managers look at data appliance warehouse as an unnecessary intrusion or worse, a threatening intrusion into their jobs, they probably won’t like it and even won’t use it. Therefore, there should be a consensus building process that helps in guiding the planning, design and implementation process. Make every effort to gain acceptance and minimize resistance to the data warehouse.
• Implementation efficiency – in order to help meet the needs of your company as early as possible and also minimize the project cost, the data warehouse design should be straightforward and efficient to implement. You can design a technically elegant data warehousing however, if it does not meet with the user’s needs, your DW project will be mired in difficulty. Therefore, it is advised to opt for simplicity in the design and choose function over the beautiful form.
•User friendliness – in order to achieve a user friendly design, the data appliance warehouse should leverage a common front-end across the company which is based on user roles and security levels. It should also be intuitive enough to have a minimum learning curve for most users.