Insurance companies use data warehousing for claims analysis to see which procedures are claimed together and to identify patterns of risky customers. Manufacturers can use data warehousing to compare costs of each of their product lines over the last several years, determine which factors produced increases and see what effect these increases had on overall margins. Setting up a data warehouse isn t easy. Just identifying where all a business s data comes from, how it gets entered into a system and where it is all stored can be difficult, and setting up a data cleansing processes is quite complicated. It all depends on how large and complex the data collecting and storing operation is.
Large data warehousing projects take years and millions of dollars to implement.
Some companies begin with a data mart, a scaled-down warehouse that focuses on just one functional department area, such as finance. Data marts often can be implemented in a couple of months and later be linked together into a confederated warehouse. The technical project team for a data warehouse includes a project manager, a data and system architect, database administrators, business application analysts, data conversion specialists, and network support staff. Database design, end user training, the ongoing adjusting and tuning of applications to meet user needs, and the system architecture and design.