Assignment 3: Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses 1

A relational database optimized for online transactions is designed to automate

transaction processing, record keeping, and simple business report transactions (o!er, "###, pg$
%&$ 'he data in a relational transaction s(stem usuall( re)uire a normalized structure !ith man(
tables, each containing a minimum of attributes and emphasizing data integrit($ *uer( acti+it( in
the relational database tends to be lo! for additional processing c(cles$ A data !arehouse
focuses on )uer(ing capabilities and tends to be non,normalized, including fe! tables !hich
contain large numbers of attributes$ 'he )ueries in the data !arehouse are usuall( broad in scope
and comple-$ A data !arehouse is also inclined to +er( large amounts of data, !hich is stored in
non,normalized tables housing man( redundancies (.oronel, /orris, and 0ob, "#13, pg$ 11"&$
A decision support database is a specialized database management s(stem tailored to
pro+ide fast ans!ers to comple- )ueries$ 'here are three main re)uirements for a decision
support database, !hich are the database schema, data e-traction and filtering, and the size of the
database$ 'he decision support database schema must support comple- data representations and
must be able to e-tract multidimensional time slices (.oronel, /orris, and 0ob, "#13, pg$ 113&$
'he schema must also be optimized for )uer( retrie+als$ Decision support data is created mainl(
from e-tracting data from an operational database and using additional data from e-ternal
sources, !hich means the database management s(stem needs to support ad+anced data
e-traction and data,filtering tools, the decision support database2s filtering capabilities must
include the abilit( to check for inconsistent data or +alidation rules$ A decision support database
is usuall( +er( large in size3 therefore, the database management s(stem must be capable of
supporting +er( large databases (.oronel, /orris, and 0ob, "#13, pg$ 114&$ An operational
database consists of s(stem,specific reference data and e+ent data that belongs to a transaction,
update s(stem$ It is the source of data for the decision support data and data !arehouse,
Assignment 3: Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses "
containing detailed data used to run da( to da( operations$ 'he data is continuousl( changing and
being updated (What is Operational Database, "##5&$ 0e)uirements for operational data include
integrated sub6ect oriented data, +olatile data, current data, and detailed data$ 7perational data
!ill usuall( contain se+eral !eeks or months !orth of data !hile decision support data !ill
contain large historical data (Bo!man&$ 7perational data is usuall( stored in a relational database
and tends to be hea+il( normalized and optimized to support dail( operations$ 7perational data
represents indi+idual transactions !ithin man( tables !hile decision support data encompasses
transactions o+er time in +er( fe! tables (.oronel, /orris, and 0ob, "#13, pg$ 11#&$
'he 8$9$ Air force used databases to anal(ze the impact of +arious base closure
scenarios$ 'he soft!are used a multi,la(er, hierarchical filtering process to e+aluate the impact of
closing the bases$ 'hose that !ere of minimum strategic, operational, social, and economic
impact !ere placed at the top of the list$ 'his information focused on elements that impacted
operational effecti+eness, such as alternate airfield a+ailabilit(, !eather, and facilit( capacit($ In
this e-ample, the committee for closing the bases could easil( bring up the information in an
orderl( manner and make a decision based on the data pro+ided for closing a particular base
(o!er, "###, pg$ "#&$ Another e-ample is 9hop:o, !hich created a data !arehouse to collect
dail( statistics on e+er( stock unit in e+er( store$ 'he data collected helps 9hop:o in
determining the right merchandise to sell in a specific area during a specific time !hile
remaining current !ith changing demands due to seasons, trends, and man( other factors (o!er,
"###, pg$ "#,"1&$ 'he last e-ample is of ;ederal <-press, !hich created a central data
!arehouse to pro+ide !eb,based real time access to financial and logistical information (o!er,
"###, pg$ "#&$ 'his information helps in decision making processes such as scheduling trucks,
Assignment 3: Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses 3
airplanes, and ships for deli+er( purposes, as !ell as man( other business functions (o!er,
"###, pg$ 1#&$
Data mining can be beneficial to banks b( predicting the credit !orthiness of ne! clients
based on the historical data of past clients$ A bank can use the data that describes the financial
status and beha+ior of past clients and b( using that data the( can predict the probabilit( of
potential future clients to pa( back credit (Data Mining Example: Banking)$ Another e-ample of
data mining is Amazon=s product feature that tells potential customers that people !ho like one
particular product !ill also like other certain items (>all&$ 'his techni)ue of using similar
purchases helps Amazon to market their products to the best potential customers$ 'he last
e-ample is of /erck,/edco /anaged .are, a mail,order business, !hich sells drugs to Blue
.ross and Blue 9hield, as !ell as man( other large organizations$ /erck,/edco uses data
mining to find hidden links bet!een illnesses and kno!n drug treatments and spot trends that
help to pinpoint !hich drugs are the most effecti+e$ In doing this, the( ha+e found more effecti+e
treatments and helped their customers sa+e an a+erage of ten to fifteen percent on prescription
costs (Ale-ander&$
Assignment 3: Business Intelligence and Data Warehouses 4
0esources
Ale-ander, D$ (n$d$&$ Data Mining$ 0etrie+ed ?une 1, "#14, from
http:@@!!!$laits$ute-as$edu@Aanorman@B89$;70@course$mat@Ale-@B%$
Bo!man, D$ (n$d$&$ Operational Data Store$ 0etrie+ed ?une 3, "#14, from
http:@@!!!$information,management,architect$com@operational,data,store$html$
.oronel, .$, /orris, 9$, C 0ob, $ ("#13&$ Database s(stems: Design, implementation, and
management (1#th ed$&$ Independence, :D: .engage$
Data Mining Example: Banking | Easy.Data.Mining (English)$ (n$d$&$ 0etrie+ed ?une 1, "#14,
from http:@@!!!$eas(datamining$com@en@data,mining@data,mining,in,practice@banking@$
>all, 9$ (n$d$&$ Examples O Data Mining !s. "ra#itional Marketing $esear%h | &hron.%om$
0etrie+ed ?une 1, "#14, from http:@@smallbusiness$chron$com@e-amples,data,mining,+s,
traditional,marketing,research,"451E$html$
o!er, D$ ?$ ("###, 9eptember "4&$ S'pporting B'siness De%ision(Making$ 0etrie+ed ?une 1,
"#14, from http:@@dssresources$com@dssbook@ch1sbdm$pdf$
What is Operational Database | Online )earning$ ("##5, December 11&$ 0etrie+ed ?une 3, "#14,
from http:@@!!!$learn$geekinter+ie!$com@data,!arehouse@d!,basics@!hat,is,operational,
database$html$