Enterprise Data Warehouse : First look

An Enterprise Data Warehouse is a centralized data warehouse, which serves the entire enterprise. It contains a large database repository containing old and current transactions of an organization. The history, or the emergence of the Enterprise Data Warehouse, came about to address the need for data which is increasing exponentially in the last few years. There has been an opportunity and a necessity for Business Enterprises to stay updated with current advancements in technology as well as the industry competition.

The main rules while modeling an Enterprise Data Warehouse are

1. The grain should be clearly defined. The goal of the warehouse design is to essentially come up with a clear representation of the Enterprise’s business data as well as the rules that govern the organization. The more departments and functions of the enterprise, the more definite and defined the Warehouse should be.

2. An enterprise can never contain just a single functional area. Therefore, the Enterprise Data Warehouse should contain multiple areas which may be related to Marketing, Sales, HR, Retail etc.

3. The Enterprise Data Warehouse almost always contains denormalized models like Star or Snowflake, but this is generally not a rule. Many database designers also prefer the normalized design. The key point to note here is the emphasis on flexibility, performance and speed.

4. Every Enterprise Data Warehouse infrastructure should always be able to handle unforeseen and unexpected situations which might potentially result in a loss of income. The emphasis should be on availability, which means that disaster recovery features and security should always be in place.


5. An Enterprise Data Warehouse should always be scalable across many dimensions. This essentially means that it should be able to handle the exponential growth of data as well as increasing complexity with the development and growth of any Business Enterprise.

In this age of Information Technology, all processes are data driven. Hence a successful Enterprise Data Warehouse should be adaptable to change and focus on the above mentioned features.

References : Kimballgroup.com
Wikipedia