THE DATA WAREHOUSE CONCEPT - AN OVERVIEW

Today relational databases are supposed to be state of the art for the processing of (basic) data in the operative area. Requirements like t he flexible, multidimensional view on data or the integration of opera tions research models, statistical methods and processes for aggregati on and disaggregation, which are made on management sup port systems, can, however, be fulfilled by relational databases only in an insuffic ient manner. This survey focuses on the data warehouse concept, which is considered to be an opportunity to provide information for camputer -aided management support systems. Based on the requirements for the i mplementation of a data warehouse a description of its architecture an d its characteristic features is given. The success of a data warehous e depends to a high degree on the quality of the data base. For this r eason the characteristics are discussed when modelling this basic data warehouse component Finally we will deal with questions and aspects o f integration into the existing data processing structure of an enterp rise and possible benefits of the Data Warehouse concept are shown.