University of Memphis
Spectrum
Information Technology Division

Data Warehouse

The Data Warehouse is a database designed for analytical and information processing. Data are extracted from the university's business systems into a single integrated information asset. The warehouse is a read-only collection of data intended to answer business questions. 

A Data Warehouse can:

  • enable users with better information,
  • improve accessibility to integrated data,
  • enable informed decision-making leading to increased or improved service,
  • improve data quality in the OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing) systems,
  • improve consistency with data from multiple systems,
  • help identify hidden business opportunities, and
  • act as a strategic planning tool.

The Data Warehouse is an On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) system that is populated using data from the University’s operational systems—also known as an On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems. An OLAP system provides a means of archiving data gathered over time by OLTP systems, and then analyzing that data for trends. OLAP and OLTP can be compared in the following ways:

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Last updated: 07/10/2008 16:08:09
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