Data warehousing Course Code: CS614

CS614@vu.edu.pk

Assignment No. 01
(Solution)

Deadline date:
Your assignment must be uploaded/submitted before or on 17-10-2007

Assignment Marks:
25

Assignment Topic:
The topic of the assignment is normalization

Uploading instructions
Please view the assignment submission process document provided to you by the Virtual
University to upload the assignment.

Rules for Marking

It should be clear that your assignment will not get any credit if:

o The assignment is submitted after due date

o The assignment is copied

Objective
o To learn and understand basic data warehouse concepts.

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Data warehousing Course Code: CS614
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Assignment:

Q.1 What are the various data source components for the data warehouse? [10]

Answer: Source data coming into the data warehouse may be grouped into four broad
categories:

Production Data: This category of data comes from the various operational systems of the
enterprise. Based on the information requirements in the data warehouse, you choose segments
of data from the different operation systems. While dealing with this data, you come across many
variations in the data format. Also data resides on different hardware platforms.

Internal Data: In every organization, users keep their “private” spreadsheets, documents,
customer profiles, and sometimes even departmental databases. This is the inter data, parts of
which could be useful in data warehouse.

Archived Data: Operational systems are primarily intended to run the current business. In every
operational system, you periodically take the old data and store it in archived files. The
circumstances in your organization dictate how often and which portions of the operational
databases are archived for storage. Some data is archived after year. Sometimes data is left in
operational system database for as long as five years.

External Data: Most executives depend on data from external sources for a high percentage of
the information they use. They use statistics relating to their industry produced by external
agencies. They use market share data of competitors. They use standard values of financial
indicators for their business to check on their performance.

Q.2 Why are operational systems not suitable for providing strategic information? Give
reason. [5]

Answer: The fundamental reason for the inability to provide strategic information is that we
have been trying all along to provide strategic information from the operational systems. These
operational systems such as order processing, inventory control, claims processing, outpatient
billing, and so on are not designed or intended to provide strategic information. If we need the
ability to provide strategic information, we must get the information from altogether different
types of systems. Only specially designed decision support systems or information systems can
provide strategic information.

Q.3 A data warehouse is the only viable means to resolve the information crisis and to
provide strategic information. List four reasons to support this assertion and explain. [10]

Answer: A data warehouse is the only viable means to resolve the information crisis and to
provide strategic information. We arrived at this conclusion based on the functions of new

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Data warehousing Course Code: CS614
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system environment called the data warehouse. So, let us try to come up with a functional
definition of the data warehouse.

The data warehouse is an informational environment that

 Provides an integrated and total view of the enterprise.

 Makes the enterprise’s current and historical information easily available for decision
making.
 Makes decision-support transactions possible without hindering operational systems.
 Renders the organization’s information consistent.
 Presents a flexible and interactive source of strategic information.

Note:

o Assignment should be in your own wordings not copied from net, handouts or books.

o Your answer should be “to the point” and not more than 5 to 6 lines.

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