WHAT IS A DATA WAREHOUSE?
Data Warehouses are central repositories of integrated data from one or more disparate sources. They store current and historical data which allow creation of actionable insights to be consumed throughout the enterprise.
They are the foundation for a successful BI program. The concept is simple; create a central location and permanent storage space to house a deep data pool that can be sliced and diced in an infinite number of ways to support desired analysis, reporting and other BI functions.
In-house Data Warehouse design, development, infrastructure and maintenance can be very expensive and inefficient due to the need to have scale based around peak demand.
HOW DO DATA WAREHOUSES WORK?
The pernix approach to Data Warehousing is:
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Envision the initial architecture;
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Model the details just in time (JIT);
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Prove the architecture early;
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Focus on usage;
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Promote active stakeholder participation;
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Take an evolutionary approach;
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Embrace change;
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Deliver working outputs regularly;
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Generate regular iterations;
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Test throughout the lifecycle; and
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Involve operations and support people early.
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Congregates data from multiple sources into a single database so a single query engine can be used to present data;
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Mitigates the problem of database isolation level lock contention in transaction processing systems caused by attempts to run large, long running, analysis queries in transaction processing databases;
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Maintains data history, even if the source transaction systems do not;
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Integrates data from multiple source systems, enabling a central view across the enterprise;
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Improves data quality by providing consistent codes and descriptions, flagging or even fixing bad data;
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Presents the organisation’s information consistently;
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Provides a single common data model for all data of interest regardless of the data’s source;
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Restructures the data so that it makes sense to the business users;
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Restructures the data so that it delivers excellent query performance, even for complex analytic queries, without impacting the operational systems;
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Adds value to operational business applications; and
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Makes decision–support queries easier to write.
GOOD DATA WAREHOUSE DESIGN
POOR DATA WAREHOUSE DESIGN
I CAN’T GET AN ANSWER WHEN I NEED IT…
Demands on Management and decision making can be very dynamic in today’s business climate. Often, decision makers need the best information and need it now!
Pernix solutions ensure that they can query the data themselves with little or no support from IT; saving more time and more money.
That means that users won’t have to wait until IT gets around to generating the reports, and those hardworking folks in IT can do what they do best—keep the systems running.
I CAN’T SEE THE DETAIL…
Data from traditional front end source systems on well-defined Entity Relationships or mainframes make it difficult to generate historical reports with sensible granularity.
This frustrates and limits any attempt to mine data or develop enhanced models.
Pernix developed Data Warehouse provide access to large amounts of previously unaccessible historical data so you can analyse different time periods and trends in order to make better predictions and forecasts.
MY GUT FEELING IS…
Often, when data is limited or incomplete, decision makers defer to instinct. In some cases this works extremely well, but in the majority of cases this is a recipe for failure and certainly introduces an unacceptable risk profile for big ticket decisions.
Pernix solutions provide the capability to draw better data from a wider range of sources; decision makers will no longer need to make business decisions based on limited data or their gut.
Data warehouses and related BI can be applied directly to business processes including marketing segmentation, inventory management, financial management, and sales.
I THOUGHT WE HAD INTEGRATED DATA…
More and more proprietary systems are offering 1st or 2nd party integration with other systems. Each new system and integration adds complexity and decreases flexibility.
Pernix solutions ensure that all data is centralised, data quality is enhanced and users can quickly access critical data from a number of sources. As the data is all in one place and not specific to one platform it is future-proofed.
I’M NOT SURE THAT’S RIGHT…
When business-critical decisions need to be made, it is imperative to have confidence in the data and what it has to say.
Too many handshakes and a heavy reliance on cascading conversions leave the door open for error.
The Pernix Data Warehouse implementation includes the conversion of data from numerous source systems into a common format.
Since the data from various departments is standardized, each department will produce results that align with those of all the other departments.
This standardization allows for greater confidence in the accuracy of your data. Accurate data is the basis for sound decisions.