Data Warehousing: Have You Taken Stock of Your Warehouse?

Businesses generate an enormous amount of information from multiple sources every second. And when that much data is being generated at record speed, there isn’t enough manpower in the world to keep track of it all. You have to look at your primary business goals to figure out what you need to know and then determine how to summarize that data.

Data warehousing converts data into information by building the structure for intelligent analysis. As part of your computer-based Decision Support Systems (DSS), data warehouses collect and analyze every activity related to your business, from daily transactions to specific customer information. During the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) process, data from multiple outside sources gets stored it in a warehouse repository to create a comprehensible, accessible history of your daily business transactions.

While the process of collecting and organizing data is critical, it’s how it’s analyzed and reported that makes data warehousing a valuable tool for businesses. Data warehouses provide information about what already occurred so you can make better decisions for what’s to come. Businesses run on data-driven knowledge, and when you have access to your company’s historical data, you gain valuable insight into the changes, trends and performance of your company over time.

Imagine a dining experience at a restaurant as an analogy to a daily business report. The data warehouse is akin to what happens in sourcing, organizing and prepping the ingredients, cooking and sampling before it goes to the table. There’s no food on the plate without a data warehouse.

What’s your data warehouse analogy?