History of Data Warehousig IBM- researchers Barry Devlin and Paul Murphy

Data Warehouses became a distinct type of computer database during the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were developed to meet a growing demand for management information and analysis that could not be met by operational systems. Operational systems were unable to meet this need for a range of reasons such as The processing load of reporting reduced the response time of the operational systems and Development of reports in operational systems often required writing specific computer programs which was slow and expensive. As a result, separate computer databases began to be built that were specifically designed to support management information and analysis purposes. These data warehouses were able to bring in data from a range of different data sources, such as mainframe computers, minicomputers, as well as personal computers and office automation software such as spreadsheet, and integrate this information in a single place. This capability, coupled with userfriendly reporting tools and freedom from operational impacts, has led to a growth of this type of computer system.

As technology improved (lower cost for more performance) and user requirements increased (faster data load cycle times and more features), data warehouses have evolved through several fundamental stages: Offline Operational Databases - Data warehouses in this initial stage are developed by simply copying the database of an operational system to an off-line server where the processing load of reporting does not impact on the operational system's performance. Offline Data Warehouse - Data warehouses in this stage of evolution are updated on a regular time cycle (usually daily, weekly or monthly) from the operational systems and the data is stored in an integrated reporting-oriented data structure. Real Time Data Warehouse - Data warehouses at this stage are updated on a transaction or event basis, every time an operational system performs a transaction (e.g. an order or a delivery or a booking etc.) Integrated Data Warehouse - Data warehouses at this stage are used to generate activity or transactions that are passed back into the operational systems for use in the daily activity of the organization.

Exploring The Pros and Cons of Data Warehousing The recent popularity of data warehousing technology as a management technique advocated by various data warehousing associations and business groups would seem to imply the overall positive aspects of using the process as a business model. However, not every system is applicable to every business setting. Business owners should fully research the advantages and disadvantages of data warehousing before attempting to implement the strategy. The Advantages of Data Warehousing In evaluating the appropriateness of data warehousing for your operation, consider the following points: Enhanced access to data and information. All data warehousing organizations enjoy better end-user access to business information that is related to company affairs. In a today's highly competitive world, the ability to carefully analyze information is key to the company's overall success or failure. Easy report creation. With the use of data warehousing technology, business departments will find it easier to create reports of all types, like financial statements, that are highly significant to both day-to-day operations and yearly accounting. If it is not used in any other segment of the business, data warehousing in accounting offers tremendous benefit. Obviously then the major benefits are ease of access and flexibility of use for key corporate data. There are, however, downsides to achieving that level of usage. Disadvantages of Data Warehousing The major disadvantages of data warehousing is the time commitment required and the need to create a cohesive, compatible system of data collection, storage, and retrieval. Preparation may be time consuming. One of the most common data warehousing issues pertains to the need to regularly extract, clean, and load data into the system. Even though this process is fully automated, it still consumes time as does regular maintenance. Compatibility with existing systems. The use of data warehousing technology may require a company to modify the database system already in place. This could really be the foremost concern of businesses when adapting the model given the cost of the computer systems and software needed.

Security issues. Data warehousing technology, as good as it is to implement, may contain security flaws. If the database contains sensitive information, its use may be restricted to a limited group of people and precautions will be required to insure that access is not compromised. Limited data access situations can also effect the overall utilization of the data stragetgy. Whether using data warehousing in accounting or to analyze order fulfillment and tracking, the potential of the organizational strategy is considerable. Make sure that data warehousing will be a good fit for your business before proceeding and be prepared to commit to the level of work required to get the system in place. Once it's working for you, however, you'll be glad you made the decision to create a "corporate memory."

Benefits Some of the benefits that a data warehouse provides are as follows:[7][8]
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A data warehouse provides a common data model for all data of interest regardless of the data's source. This makes it easier to report and analyze information than it would be if multiple data models were used to retrieve information such as sales invoices, order receipts, general ledger charges, etc. Prior to loading data into the data warehouse, inconsistencies are identified and resolved. This greatly simplifies reporting and analysis. Information in the data warehouse is under the control of data warehouse users so that, even if the source system data are purged over time, the information in the warehouse can be stored safely for extended periods of time. Because they are separate from operational systems, data warehouses provide retrieval of data without slowing down operational systems. Data warehouses can work in conjunction with and, hence, enhance the value of operational business applications, notably customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Data warehouses facilitate decision support system applications such as trend reports (e.g., the items with the most sales in a particular area within the last two years), exception reports, and reports that show actual performance versus goals. Data warehouses can record historical information for data source tables that are not set up to save an update history.

Sample applications Some of the applications data warehousing can be used for are:
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Decision support Trend analysis

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Financial forecasting Churn Prediction for Telecom subscribers, Credit Card users etc. Insurance fraud analysis Call record analysis Logistics and Inventory management Agriculture [9]

Business Analyst Role In Data Warehouse Projects

The Business Analysts Role In Bringing Data Warehousing To Your Office

Todays business executives spend a ton of cash on data warehouse projects because that is a big, key, strategic business initiative; the success of which weighs heavily on their minds. Data warehousing is important because it saves or aggregates information in a manner that allows executives, management or office users to make strategic business decisions faster, better and more easily!

No More Silos In The Workplace

Data warehousing is critical to business success because it presents a way for executives or management to view or manage their corporation as a whole unit instead of in silos. What data warehousing offers decision makers is the ability to break out of departmental information silos and see the big picture. One of the key objectives facilitated by business analysts in data warehousing roles is that of bridging the gap between enterprise databases (marketing, finance, inventory, customer relationship management, etc.) so that decision makers or office users can ask questions or get a comprehensive, 360 degree insight across corporate / departmental databases with one query or question!

Introducing OLAP, Business Intelligence (BI) Or Data Warehousing To Business Analysts

Business Analysts assigned to data warehouse projects may be surprised to know that traditional, day-to-day relational (online transaction processing (OLTP)) databases are not optimized for querying or reporting of data for business or decision making purposes. Databases that are actually optimized for data analysis, reporting and business intelligence are known as Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) databases.

So, another key benefit of data warehousing is that it provides decision makers with real-time business intelligence at optimal speeds through the used of OLTP systems. Finally, Data Warehousing is important from the standpoint of facilitating forecasting trends or getting performance metrics for the entire organization. Data warehousing provides senior management with intelligence required to see the companys performance from a 30,000 foot level instead of being buried under a mountain of data at sea level.

Will The Real Enterprise Business Analyst Stand Up Please?

Organizations implementing business intelligence or data-warehousing projects are looking for a significant boost in their business intelligence or decision making capabilities. Savvy business analysts pulled into data-warehousing / BI projects would fare well to keep this at the back of their mind from the git-go!
So, here are some key roles for business analysts in data warehouse projects
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The Data Warehouse Business Analysts role includes helping the business team identify key opportunities for boosting revenue, increasing sales, decreasing operational costs or achieving some other important organizatioinal or business objective. The Business Analyst bridges the gap between the business or executive management office and the data warehousing / BI Implementation Team. The Business Analyst identifies the business intelligence needs of the organization. This includes eliciting BI requirements from executives, managers or office users and then working with the data warehouse project team to identify, define or implement these business requirements.

The Enterprise Business Analyst Role In Data Warehousing Projects

Data warehousing projects are all about building, integrating, analyzing or reporting on large, complex, corporate databases. So, Business Analysts working in such domains will be well-advised to fortify their database skills as that is the real-world domain or context of data warehousing. Because of the strategic importance or the scope of data warehousing / business intelligence (BI) projects, the business analyst typically functions as a key member of a larger data warehouse project team. The data warehouse project team may include the Project Manager, Data Modeler, Data Architect, Data Analyst , Tester, Report Writer, Database Developer and last but not least the data warehousing / business intelligence (BI) business analyst.

With that in mind, here are the business analysts roles in the context of an enterprise datawarehousing project implementation team.
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Management Role: working with executives, management or the business team, the business analyst identifies the gaps in corporate intelligence / reporting capabilities. Data Analyst Role: working with data analysts, the business analyst identifies, understands and documents the sources of data discrepancies or gaps in business intelligence. The actual work of identifying data sources may be assigned to the data analysts or Extraction, Transform Load (ETL) developers while that of documenting or modeling the data transformations assigned to a business analyst comfortable with creating data models.

Data Modeler / Data Architect / Database Developer Role: The business analyst works with the data modeler, data architect or database developer to create the logical or conceptual data model. The business analyst also validates that the data model meets business requirements before it is implemented.

The Data Warehouse Business Analyst Skill Sets The enterprise data warehouse business analyst is not your traditional business analyst. so, here are some of the skill-set requirements for business analysts in a data warehouse project.
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The business analyst needs a thorough understanding of Extraction, Transform and Load (ETL) processes. The business analyst also needs a strong understanding of the logical database design process, data modeling, data-mart design and a good understanding of OLAP compared to OLTP systems. The business analyst needs to be comfortable with the business intelligence tools used in delivering corporate intelligence to decision makers which may be as simple as a Microsoft Excel-based Business Intelligence (tool). The business analyst also needs a good understanding of data warehousing terminology as well as the corporate data being analyzed by the business. In other words, familiarity with the data is important whether ones eliciting requirements from the business team or validating data models and ETL processes with the Data Warehouse implementation team.

Bringing Business Intelligence (BI) To The Office

An increasing number of organizations are either planning or implementing BI projects with the objective of improving the quality of corporate intelligence available to decision makers.

As a business analyst, its your duty to assist your organization with their BI / Data Warehouse endeavors. You can achieve this by learning as much as you can about databases, data warehousing, business intelligence, data analysis and decision making processes. The data warehouse business analyst job description includes a cross-functional suite of skills in Relational Database Development, SQL Query Writing, Data Analysis and Business Analysis.