What is Data Warehousing? Understand the Importance of Data Structures and Architecture

Long ago, whether you were grabbing candy at a five and dime or shopping at a clothing retailer, the store owners were keeping track of what you were purchasing. In fact, they were tracking what everyone was purchasing and making informed decisions on what to restock based on which items were selling out faster than others. This data maintenance was done in a logbook with a pen and some mental math and then stored in a filing cabinet. 

Today, with online shopping, social media networks, and even digital payment options in-store, the insights into customer habits have grown far beyond what was once manageable for in-store shopping. With an estimated 224 million online shoppers in the US alone, storing and making sense of all the data is no small task. Not only does a company need to store the data, but it also needs to extract relevant information from it. Fortunately, we have techniques like data warehousing to help tackle the challenge. 

In this article, I’ll give you an overview of what data warehousing is, how it works, and key techniques behind it. This is all information I draw on from my 30+ years of experience in data warehousing and my course, Data Warehouse Fundamentals for Beginners, where I cover the best practices for the architecture, dimensional design, and data interchange needed to implement data warehousing in your organization.

Let’s get started with the basics of data warehousing.

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Data Warehouse Fundamentals for Beginners

Alan Simon