This paper is a short summary of the major findings of a study based upon sixty-two case studies of organizations that have successful data warehouses in use at their sites. The in-person interviews that provide the basis of the study were conducted in 1995 and 1996. The goal of the project was to examine the financial impact of data warehouses on the core processes contributing to an organizationâs success. After visiting the organizations at locations ranging from New York City to Juneau, Alaska and Helsinki, Finland, the results are irrefutable: as an investment, data warehouses provide organizations with the ability to deliver astronomical benefits, and fulfill many of technologyâs longstanding promises.
The paper reviews the developments which have taken place in the retailer panel services in the late 80's and early 90's, with specific reference to the move from retail audits to scanning based services and the current trend towards census data. The dramatic growth of data volumes associated with these changes have brought into the industry the need for the latest in information technology and a new way of handling and analyzing the data. The paper discusses the trends towards harmonising data, structuring hierarchies and creating order. It draws a clear distinction between multi-dimensional databases and data warehouses and between data mining and data drilling, and explains in some detail the meanings behind the terms. Whereas much of the technical and theoretical aspects associated with the latest technology are kept to a minimum, there is a focus on the essence, meaning and implications to the end user. The current trends toward manufacturer specific data warehouses are challenged and it is argued that users who now re-focus on modelling and analytical techniques and data mining technologies will quickly benefit more than their competitors who continue to focus on ordering data in their own data warehouse environments.
This paper describes a new approach to data warehousing, in focusing the data warehousing solutions on the every day needs of data end- users. This new approach is called User Information System to show the difference with other Data Warehouse Solutions. In the first part, this paper analyzes the usual data warehouse solutions mostly oriented towards data management. In the second part, this paper presents the User Information System Solution, oriented end-user, and designed by end-users of data warehouse. The specifications of this solution were from the experience of France Telecom Information System. In the last part, we describe the data usersâ satisfaction problems.