DATA WAREHOUSING FUNDAMENTALS: A Comprehensive Guide for IT Professionals

16.2. WEB-ENABLED DATA WAREHOUSE

A Web-enabled data warehouse uses the Web for information delivery and collaboration among users. As months go by, more and more data warehouses are being connected to the Web. Essentially, this means an increase in the access to information in the data warehouse. Increase in information access, in turn, means increase in the knowledge level of the enterprise. It is true that even before connecting to the Web, you could give access for information to more of your users, but with much difficulty and a proportionate increase in communication costs. The Web has changed all that. It is now a lot easier to add more users. The communications infrastructure is already there. Almost all of your users have Web browsers. No additional client software is required. You can leverage the Web that already exists. The exponential growth of the Web, with its networks, servers, users, and pages, has brought about the adoption of the Internet, intranets, and extranets as information transmission media. The Web-enabled data warehouse takes center stage in the Web revolution. Let us see why.

16.2.1. Why the Web?

It appears to be quite natural to connect the data warehouse to the Web. Why do we say this? For a moment, think of how your users view the Web. First, they view the Web as a tremendous source of information. They find the data content useful and interesting. Your internal users, customers, and business partners already use the Web frequently. They know how ...