Data Warehousing

Data warehousing concerns the collection, organization, and modelling of data. Data warehousing operations focus on transforming and modelling data in order to effectively and faithfully represent business or organizational activity. Cloud data warehouses are built upon data lakes as the primary sources of raw data. See our section on import architecture for detailed information about building your data lake and devloping an import methodology, such as the data universe strategy. The objective is to create a picture of the business through your data. This can include multiple data marts which are focused on particular tasks, or a large enterprise data warehouse consisting of an all encompassing look at your entire business.

Data warehousing consists of all processes following the import of raw data including data transformations, data governance, and data modelling. Data transformations transform your data into useful and structured objects for operating on and performing analysis. Data governance concerns the processes and procedures for how you operate on the data, track lineage, or manage security, for example. Dimensional modelling is how your shape your data to suit your consumers needs and reflect the business faithfully. All elements of your data warehouse are always interacting with each other at every stage of development.

Eventually, after all data are effectively typed, cleaned, and structured then transformations can begin to turn your raw data into business facts, which are your initial useful units of knowledge. After your business knowledge is well founded and solidified within your data warehouse you can start to ask useful questions of your data and begin to form information. Information tells you what happened during business operations and consists of related knowledge. This consists of a current as well as historical understanding of your business or organization.

After you have built up a reliable and comprehensive base of knowledge you can begin to synthesize this knowledge into wisdom. Wisdom is the understanding of how your business fits into the broader economy and how your business is related to other entities in the market and industry.

Data forms your knowledge, knowledge forms your information, information forms your wisdom, and wisdom forms your business strategy. This is what is meant by a data driven organization.