Corporate Information Factory

PREFACE

Some books describe how to do things; they’re called how-to books or manuals. Other books describe why we do things; these include books on philosophy and psychology. Still other books describe where things are—for example, atlases. But other books simply describe what we should be doing. This is one of those kinds of books.

The usefulness of a what book is that it provides direction. There is an old saying among sailors, “When there is no destination, any route will do.” This book describes a very substantial destination port for sailors navigating the sea of information. After the corporation understands that there is a port and where it is, it is easy to set the information organization’s rudder on the right heading to the appropriate destination, even through stormy seas.

The Origins of Data Warehousing

The world of computers and information technology has grown quickly, sequentially, and in a surprisingly uniform manner. In the era of punch-card and paper-tape systems, we used the computer as a calculating beast of burden, running such systems as accounts payable and accounts receivable.

With the advent of disk storage, cheaper memory, more sophisticated operating systems, and direct end-user interface devices, a whole new style of computing became a reality—online processing. With online processing, the computer changed from a beast of burden to an Arabian stallion. Reservation systems, automated bank tellers, and a host of other new systems became a reality.

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