In the present era, warehouse management is holding the place of one of the most beneficial systems for modern businesses. To store data, special types of storage are used – Data Warehouse. Let’s figure out how DWD differs from conventional databases, how such solutions are used, and for which companies they are relevant.
DWD: how corporate storage differs from conventional databases
Businesses began to take an active interest in corporate repositories at the end of the last century. They were implemented to increase the speed of response to changes. They are used to monitor performance indicators and automate processes. Different applications were responsible for different processes. Some were used for financial transactions. Others for coordinating supply chains. And others helped to analyze sales figures with a banking data warehouse.
However, this approach led to the fact that key business data was stored separately. Companies needed a solution that would allow them to analyze the information picture as a whole. And not data from different systems separately.
To solve this problem, a special tool was created. The corporate data warehouse, or Data Warehouse. In fact, DWD is a domain-specific database that consolidates important business information and allows you to automatically prepare consolidated reports.
Data Warehouse is unified corporate storage of archived data from different sources (systems, departments, etc.). The goal of the Data Warehouse is to provide the user with the ability to make the right decisions. They are made in terms of business management based on a holistic information picture.
DWH is not just a database
A corporate data warehouse differs from conventional databases used in business in several ways:
Data type and source
Conventional databases store data from specific information systems of a company. For example, in the database of the HR department, we will see information about employees. But data on deliveries will not be there. DWD is built on a different principle: such a corporate warehouse consolidates information from all departments of the company. It’s from sales statistics to employee information with https://diceus.com/industry/banking/mobile-banking/.
Data volume
Conventional databases are used to store only up-to-date information – it makes no sense to store data for several years of the enterprise’s operation. The Data Warehouse, on the other hand, collects historical data and historical information. For example, by looking at DWD, you can get information about all transactions over the past few years.
Role in business processes
Initially, the data is stored in regular databases and from there it is sent to DWD. In other words, the Data Warehouse always contains the latest versions of the data.
How business uses DWH
DWD is not only a warehouse of important company data but also the basis of business intelligence (BI). It is from the corporate repository that the company receives the information necessary for making managerial and strategic decisions.
Let’s see how it works with a simple example.
A large internet retailer recorded a decline in sales. A business analyst is involved to solve the problem.
A specialist, having gained access to DWD, begins to study key indicators: the size of revenue, the number of customers, costs, etc.
After the exploration stage, the analyst generates a report, in which, based on the data received from the Data Warehouse, the reasons for the problem are indicated. The result of the report is supported by statistical information.
Decision-makers, based on the information from the analytical report, take effective measures to increase sales, for example, adjust the strategies and policies for promoting the company’s products.
Enterprise repository allows you not to blindly search for a solution, but to identify the sources of the problem. Regular databases simply do not allow this, because:
- do not store historical information;
- data from different databases are stored separately, without giving a single information picture;
- searching and comparing information from ordinary databases will take an impressive amount of time and other resources.
Why DWH is an effective analytics tool
The corporate warehouse acts as a large data warehouse. Let’s see what opportunities companies are organizing DWD in pursuit of.
Quick access to the information you need
The larger the company, the more departments it has, each of which generates its own data streams. And the more difficult it is for an analyst to quickly access the information he needs. Just imagine. To analyze one problem, you need to request access and permissions to different databases from different departments. It will take a very long time for the analyst to receive all the information he needs. DWD solves this problem by ensuring that all the information you need is available quickly.
Long-term data retention
As a rule, ordinary databases are not used to store information for the last ten years of the company’s operation. But for DWD, such a period is the absolute norm. Moreover, all data is stored in an optimal format, including aggregated values.
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