Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls, 2nd Edition

USE OF A DATA WAREHOUSE TO ANALYZE DATA (STUDY OBJECTIVE 6)

In many instances, the data that managers need are much broader than that set of data currently used in day-to-day operations. Management often needs data from several fiscal periods from across the whole organization. A data warehouse can serve as this source of broader information for management. A data warehouse is an integrated collection of enterprise-wide data that includes five to ten years of nonvolatile data used to support management in decision making and planning. The data warehouse can be better understood if we compare it with the operational database. The operational database is the data that are continually updated as transactions are processed. Usually, the operational database includes data for the current fiscal year and supports day-to-day operations and record keeping for the transaction processing systems. Each time a new transaction is completed, parts of the operational data must be updated. For example, recording a sale means that sales, inventory, and receivables balances must be updated. This type of update does not occur in a data warehouse. Exhibit 13-9 shows the data warehouse and operational data layout.

The data are enterprise-wide because the data are pulled from each of the operational databases, and these data are maintained in the data warehouse for many fiscal periods. Ideally, the data warehouse should contain five to ten years of data. The data in the data warehouse are pulled from ...