What’s Data Warehousing?

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Data warehousing combines data from multiple sources into a comprehensive database for analysis and strategic planning. Access methods include queries, reports, and analytics. Smaller companies may use more limited formats like “data marts”. Data warehousing is not always the best method for storing all data.

Data warehousing combines data from multiple, usually diverse, sources into a comprehensive and easily manipulated database. Different methods can then be used by a business or organization to access this data for a variety of purposes. Analysis can be performed to determine trends over time and to create plans based on this information. Smaller companies often use more limited formats to analyze more precise or smaller datasets, although the warehouse may also use these methods.

Data access through the warehouse

Common methods for accessing data warehousing systems include queries, reports, and analytics. Since the warehouse creates a database, the number of sources can be almost unlimited, provided the system can handle the volume. The end result, however, is homogeneous data, which can be manipulated more easily. System queries are used to get information from a warehouse and this creates a report for analysis.

Usi per i data warehouse

Companies commonly use data warehousing to analyze trends over time. They might use it to visualize day-to-day operations, but its primary function is often strategic planning based on long-term data overviews. From those reports, companies make business models, forecasts, and other projections. Routinely, because the data stored in data warehouses is intended to provide reports more like an overview, the data is read-only.
This does not mean that data warehousing involves information that is never updated. On the contrary, the data stored in the warehouses is constantly updated. It is reporting and analytics that have a longer-term view.
Storage restrictions
Data warehousing isn’t always the best method for storing all of a company’s data. Companies often use it to host the information needed for specific analyses. Fuller data storage requires different capacities that are more static and less easily manipulated than those used for storage. This may include internal servers or data storage terminals intended for access and use by various individuals within a company.
Smaller solutions for data storage
While larger companies typically use data warehousing to analyze large sets of information for business purposes, smaller companies that only want to examine one topic often use “data marts”. These are much more specific and targeted in their storage and reporting. Data warehousing can include small amounts of data grouped into “marts,” which are then linked together as part of the larger system. In this way, a large company could use both warehouse and data marts, allowing users to choose the best source and functionality based on their current needs.




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