Data Warehousing Components

A data warehouse always consists of a number of components, including:

• Operational data sources.
• Design/development tools.
• Data extraction and transformation tools.
• Database management system (DBMS).
• Data access and analysis tools.
• System management tools.

Several years ago, Microsoft recognized the need for a set of technologies that would integrate these components. This led to the creation of the Microsoft Data Warehousing Framework, a roadmap not only for the development of Microsoft products such as SQL Server 7.0, but also for the technologies necessary to integrate products from other vendors.