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While modern database modeling tools make database design seem
simple for in-house IT staff, that task requires specific knowledge and long
experience to avoid traps that will catch your business application when
it’s too late. MS Team provides database design
among other software development services. We have experience in
designing and maintaining databases consisting of up to 700 tables, developing data
warehouses and data marts. Our professionals have passed special
Microsoft Certification tests that confirm their knowledge: “Designing and
Implementing Databases with Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Enterprise Edition” and
“Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000
Enterprise Edition”.
However, a database alone is not business software yet. Our customers outsource
us other related software development services. See the pages dedicated to
“Forex software development”,
“Microsoft Server programming”,
“Crystal Reports and alternative solutions”, and
“Silverlight Development”.
Below is brief information on a couple of widely
confused topics regarding data warehouses and data marts. Do not hesitate to
contact our experts to find out more how we can help you with database design
and database related technologies and development.
Many people wonder what a data warehouse is and how it can help them to
manage their company better. A data warehouse is not a “database, converted
into business intelligence” or “a decision making tool, getting you closer to
the customers”. A data warehouse is just a copy of transaction data
specifically structured for reports and analysis tools. And the main reason for
data warehouses’ existence is the necessity to dedicate precious servers’
resources to transaction processing by moving reporting tasks somewhere else.
All other “next step” benefits such as informed decision making come from not
just well built data warehouses, but also special data analysis tools, and
ability and wiliness to change business practices to best use the data
warehouses.
While a data warehouse combines the data across entire enterprise, data marts
are smaller and focus on a particular department or subject. Usually, finance
would have their data mart, and marketing would have theirs, and so on. A data
mart, which is a subset of a larger data warehouse, is called dependant data
mart. If data come from legacy applications, the data mart is called an independent
data mart. Now, while a data mart is a simpler and cheaper solution, it
has its limitations. It is rather incorrect to think that a data mart can be
turned into a data warehouse when it simply reaches a certain size. On the
other hand, data marts are useful in many business situations. A middle size
company might not be ready and not willing to carry all costs to construct a
whole enterprise data warehouse, while a data mart with sales or marketing data
could certainly improve their bottom line.
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