What is Data Warehousing?

A data warehouse is an integrated store of information collected from other systems that becomes the foundation for decision support and data analysis. Although there are many types of data warehouses, based on different design methodologies and philosophical approaches, they all have these common traits:

• Information is organized around the major subjects of the enterprise (for example, customers, products, sales, or vendors), reflecting a data-driven design.
• Raw data is gathered from nonintegrated operational and legacy applications, cleansed, and then summarized and presented in a way that makes sense to end users.
• Based on feedback from end users and discoveries in the data warehouse, the data warehouse architecture will change over time, reflecting the iterative nature of the process.

The data warehousing process is inherently complex and, as a result, is costly and time-consuming. Over the past several years, Microsoft has been working within the software industry to create a data warehousing platform that consists of both component technology and leading products that can be used to lower the costs and improve the effectiveness of data warehouse creation, administration, and usage. Microsoft also has been developing a number of products and facilities, such as Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0, that are well suited to the data warehousing process. Coupled with third-party products that can be integrated using the Microsoft Data Warehousing Framework, customers have a large selection of interoperable, best-of-breed products from which to choose for their data warehousing needs.

SQL Server 7.0 offers broad functionality in support of the data warehousing process. In conjunction with the Data Warehousing Framework, Microsoft plans to deliver a platform for data warehousing that helps reduce costs and complexity, and improves effectiveness of data warehousing efforts.