All businesses maintain and use various databases of information categorized on the basis of application or need. Businesses use such databases for a variety of purposes including:
· To keep track of basic transactions
· To provide information that aid day-to-day functions and decision making
When large volumes of data are involved, companies require special tools and platforms for analyzing such data and accessing it from multiple systems. The various systems where databases are stored are known as “database environments.” Broadly classifying, there are 3 types of database environments:
· Data warehouse: A database that stores current and historical data from core operational transactional systems for use in management analysis, but this data cannot be altered.
· Data mart: A subset of a data warehouse in which a summarized or highly focused portion of the organization’s data is placed in a separate database for a specific population of users.
· Business intelligence (BI) tools: Data analysis tools used for consolidating, analyzing, and accessing vast stores of data to help in decision making, such as software for database query and reporting, tools for multidimensional data analysis, and data mining.
This whitepaper will help you to better understand and maintain such a vast data environment and achieve maximum profitability for your business.
