Architecting the Industrial Internet

Data warehouses, data marts, and relational databases

Until this century, just about all analysis of data took place in relational databases or offshoots (such as multi-dimensional on-line analytical processing cubes, commonly referred to as MOLAP engines). These engines are the data-management systems under data warehouses and data marts. The data usually fits neatly into rows and columns when these data-management solutions are used.

Tables in relational databases are linked via foreign key relationships. A popular schema for data marts is the star schema consisting of a large fact table surrounded by multiple dimensions or look-up tables. This schema can contain multiple hierarchies and is relatively easy for business analysts to navigate ...