A Data Warehouse is a specialized database used to collect, organize, and store large volumes of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from various sources. It is often used in businesses to analyze data, generate reports, and support business decisions.
Typical functions of software in the Data Warehouse domain include:
Data Integration: The software enables the extraction of data from different sources such as databases, files, and external systems, and brings them together to create a consistent data foundation.
Data Cleansing and Transformation: Data is prepared, cleansed, and transformed to eliminate inconsistencies and make it suitable for analysis.
Data Organization: The software structures the data into a data model optimized for analysis, such as using dimensions and facts in a star schema or snowflake schema.
Data Archiving: Older data can be archived to save storage space without losing the data for analysis.
Data Analysis and Reporting: The software provides tools and features for conducting analysis and creating reports, dashboards, and visualizations to gain insights into the data and support decision-making.