CHAPTER 14
Variations to the Corporate Information Factory
A policeman won’t blow his whistle and arrest you if you violate the design guidelines of the corporate information factory (CIF). However, when you choose to build your systems outside of the architecture suggested by the CIF, a price must be paid. In some cases, the price is a large one; in others, it is not. As long as the architect is aware of the stakes and the potential disadvantages of a design that violates the CIF, nothing prevents the architect from following the CIF design.
The CIF and its different components have been specified as they are for a reason. If they are built in a manner other than that outlined in this book, something important may suffer. This chapter will suggest several popular alternatives to the CIF and point out the price for not having followed the design principles specified.
Should We Build the Data Mart or the Data Warehouse First?
The classical structure for delivering business intelligence contains two levels of data that are of interest—the data warehouse data and the data mart data. The data warehouse, often called the current level of detail, contains the bulk of the detailed data that has been collected and integrated from the applications environment.
Figure 14.1 The relationship between the data warehouse and the data mart.
The data mart is a departmental subset of the current ...
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