TDWI Best Practices Report | Operational Data Warehousing: The Integration of Operational Applications and Data Warehouses
October 1, 2010
In a TDWI Research survey that ran in May and June 2009, a paltry 17% of survey respondents reported using some form of real-time functionality with their current data warehouse platform. Yet, a whopping 92% of respondents said that within three years they would be using a data warehouse platform that includes real-time functionality.
Why the rush to real-time data warehousing? Because real-time data transfers from operational applications to data warehouses are a fundamental part of operational data warehousing (OpDW) and operational business intelligence. OpDW unifies operational and analytic processes, transforming how the business runs.
Quick reactions are increasingly required and expected of enterprises, as the pace of your business—and your competitor’s business—accelerates. Embracing operational data warehousing can change how you do business by giving you many more options for dealing with time-sensitive business events. For example, increasing numbers of orders are processed immediately and delivered overnight. You need to leverage every sales opportunity by calculating and proposing a relevant up-sell or cross-sell to a customer based on your current interactions. Hourly tracking and historical performance data from a warehouse enable just-in-time business practices such as inventory management, shift staffing, material management, demand forecasting, patient medication, and dashboards for performance management. Technology reasons also drive up urgency. Overnight batch windows are shrinking while data volumes are increasing. User organizations need a more efficient way of loading the data warehouse, and real-time and intraday loads help offload large batches.
This report will give you a jump-start on your journey toward operational data warehousing by describing its enabling technologies and real-world business use cases. It provides useful planning information for business and technical managers in both BI and operations.