Data warehouse overview

Without a data warehouse solution, data in operational databases is normalized and the relational joins place an unacceptable load on the system when these databases are queried for reporting purposes.

In the data warehouse solution, the data is de-normalized and moved to a data warehouse where Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cubes are created as the source for data analysis and reporting.

The objective in this illustration is to maintain one or more data marts updated with current operational, tactical, and strategic data in an easily reportable format.

These are the basic functions of a data warehouse:

• Data from the application database is extracted

• Data is filtered and translated to plain English

• Data structure is transformed to a star schema

• OLAP cubes are created from the data in the star schema