Database Systems

CHAPTER 24

Data Warehousing

Since the mid1990s, database technology has expanded into a new area of interest — the development and management of data warehouses. It is a fascinating field of study that deserves some attention. This chapter provides an overview of data warehousing and information extraction. The chapter proceeds under the following subheadings:

• Introduction
• Rationale For Data Warehousing
• Characteristics of a Data Warehouse
• Data Warehouse Architectures
• Extraction, Transformation and Loading
• Summary and Concluding Remarks

24.1 Introduction

The concept of a data warehouse springs from the combination of two sets of needs:

• The business ...