Still, I feel it necessary to mention the fact that despite all the technological gains, I understand that running a data warehouse is neither a simple nor a predictable proposition. And as much as costs have come down, a lot more than pocket change is needed to make it work. Commitment and a dedicated workforce are a common criteria.
“It’s easy enough to create these things and put all kinds of stuff in, but it’s harder to get it out,” said Thomas H. Davenport, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who is the director of the school’s Information Systems Management Program. “The term itself, data warehouse, illustrates what goes on; it’s not a user or customer-friendly environment.”
5.0 Conclusion
During my research of real case studies, I came across hundreds of success stories and here is where I captivated a real understanding of my chosen topic. After seeing the benefits and the drawbacks of the systems being actually implemented and used , I was able to derive a conclusion that simply put, a data warehouse is just another database. What sets it apart is that the information it contains is not used for operational purposes, but rather for analytical tasks, everything from identifying new market segments to corporate brainstorming. It is not a new device; the first decision-support systems, as they were then known, appeared in the early 1970’s. But those systems were fiercely expensive, difficult to use and narrowly deployed. And most industries were more stable then, leaving companies with little incentive to pour resources into a system whose main purpose was to improve understanding.
But now, sweeping technological advances have reduced the cost of implementing a data warehouse to a tenth or less of the expense of the old days, while vastly increasing its ease of use.
For those reasons, most large companies have installed data warehouses, or are in the process of doing so. And even though the transformative power of this management tool has only begun to be felt, companies that have taken an aggressive approach to developing its potential are finding plenty of ways to make the warehouse pay off.
Some use it to build relationships with their most important customers, by aggregating information about individual and group buying patterns. Some use it to rationalise inventory and supply, to the extent of driving production cycles at their key suppliers. Still others have discovered that the access to complex data can be a new business in itself.
6.0 Bibliography
Data Warehouse: Practical Advice from the Experts Bischoff, Joyce and Alexander, Ted (editors); Prentice-Hall; 1997
Data Warehouse und Management Informationssysteme Hannig, Uwe; Schaeffer-Poeschel ; 1996
Data Warehousing Hovi, Ari; Suomen Atk-kustannus; 1997
Data Warehousing Martin, Wolfgang; International Thomson; 1997
Data Warehousing for Dummies Simon, Alan R.; IDG Books; 1997
Data Warehousing Step by Step Barquin, Ramon; Prentice-Hall; 1998
Internet Bibliography
http://pwp.starnetinc.com/larryg/index.html
http://whatis.com/dataware.htm
http://datamation.com/PlugIn/whitepapers/data_warehouse2/datamarts.html
http://www.strategy-business.com/technology/96308/page1.html