Why Datawarehouse? Do your company need one?

Monday, June 29, 2009

Data Warehouse As Absolut-e See It

Absolut-e has many times solved organization business issues using data warehouse solutions. We have highly qualified architect consultants who know how to provide solutions to organizations using data warehouse technology. These consultants get better every day on what they do. Data warehouse will be described fully.

What is Data Warehouse?

Data warehouse is a repository for storing organizations historical data. There are numerous historical data that a company may want to store.

Example is data on employees, customer,product,how efficient company's order processing system, Which Plant is providing more profit , trend of last year vs this year much more.

It is important to understand that the data warehouse contains raw data. Data stored in the data warehouse is usually retrieved in the form of information which means the data analyst can perform complex queries and analysis. Queries used to access the information have to be written well to avoid slowing down the operational system. The typical reasons why DWH would be used are as follows:

  • It is used as an investigation tool to find new knowledge. Typical example is to learn more about customers.
  • An organization may decide to use an existing data to make strategic decisions that may have an impact on how they do business
  • DWH help to integrate variety of application systems
  • Sometimes database alone may be inefficient to run analysis on data. Other times databases may be impossible to run trends due to missing data
  • In the real world organizations have more than one operational system, so company-wide reporting could not be supported from a single system
  • Reports in operational systems often require writing specific computer programs which tend to be slow and expensive

The above reasons for DWH creation are solid and it is proven over and over that there is a real need for DWHDWH, which are as follows: in the business world. It is important to mention that there are different types of

  • A Multidimensional Data Model
  • Cuboid
  • Data Cubes – Data modeled and viewed in multiple dimensions, and defined by dimensions and facts
  • Data Cubes
  • Fact Constellation Schema
  • Star Schema
  • Snowflake Schema

What is involved in designing DWH?

The general concept of DWH is to bring data together from a variety of existing databases to support management and reporting needs. The principle is that data should be stored at its most elemental level because this provides useful and flexible basis for use in reporting and information analysis. This is not always the case, because of different focus on specific requirements that require different methods for designing and implementing data warehouses.

For a DWH to be designed the consultant need to understand and analyze business needs and create a business analysis structure The consultant has to be conversant with different views, which are To-Down, Data Source, Data Warehouse, and Business Query. With Top-Down View information has to match current and future business need, and allow selection of relevant information. Data Source View captures, stores, and manages the information by means of data modeling. In the Data Warehouse View, Fact tables and dimension tables and Recalculated totals and counts, and source information In Business Query View data is viewed from the end user view point

The DWH is accomplished by process designs, using the following approaches: Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Combined, and Combined, software engineering point, and step list. Top-Down approach is used when adequate technology is available and understood, especially, when business problems are clear and well understood. It is accomplished with overall designing and planning. The Bottom-Up approach begins with prototypes and experiments. This approach is useful when modeling and the technology is new. It helps to evaluate benefits before making significant commitment to the design. One would use Combined Approach to plan and strategize while retaining rapid development from bottom-up approach. Waterfall or Spiral methodologies may be used in terms of software engineering point of view. In the case of step list business processes, grain, dimension and measures are utilized.

What benefits our clients gain from our data warehouse projects?

Some benefits of using a DWH are as follows:

  • It enhances end-user access to a wide variety of data
  • It enable business decision makers to obtain various kinds of trend reports, for examples are the customers pattern of purchasing, and the item with the most sales in a particular area or country for the last five years.

A data warehouse can significantly enable commercial business applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) , SAP (ERP), Peoplesoft, Oracle EPM , Sales Force, and sales analysis and trends.

What are Absolut-e recommendations on designing and using DWH?

We recommend that you use consultants who have solid understanding of data and it’s manipulation. As the saying goes “garbage in garbage out”. Absolut-e consultant’s have enormous experience of designing and deploying data warehouse applications successfully. Absolut-e will use the correct tools to develop your data warehouse, such as Business Intelligence (BI). BI is a term that refers to applications and technologies which are used to collect, provide access to, and analyze data and information about organization operations. BI enables companies to have a more comprehensive knowledge of the factors affecting their business. For example, metrics on sales, production, and internal operations. Also, it can help companies to make better business decisions. Other benefits of using BI tools are as follows:

  • BI applications and technologies can help companies analyze the following: changing trends in market share, changes in customer behavior and customers’ preferences, spending patterns, company capabilities and market conditions.
  • BI systems can help companies develop consistent and solid business decisions leading to better results than basing decisions on guesswork. Also, it can enhance communication among departments, coordinate activities, and enable companies to respond more quickly to changes that may include financial conditions, and customer preferences.
  • BI applications and technologies can enable companies to make more informed business decisions, and they may give that organization a competitive advantage.
  • BI enables companies to gather information on the trends in the marketplace and come up with ground-breaking products or services in anticipation of customer’s changing demands. Companies need to have accurate, up-to-date information on customer preferences, so that they can quickly adapt to their changing demands.
Why Wait ? check out our free consultation now : www.absolut-e.com
Email us: sales@absolut-e.com to schedule your free consultation & how Absolut-e provide solutions to your data problems & build Decision Support System (DSS)

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