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Active Data Warehousing

"Overall, I think our Teradata Warehouse and using our active data has really had a very positive impact on Norfolk Southern. It's helped us to reduce our costs, which is very important to all businesses, and it's greatly increased our customer satisfaction since."

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—Linda Richardson, DBA, Norfolk Southern

The term "Active Data Warehousing (ADW)" was coined in 1999 when a Teradata Magazine article described how a few customers were using data warehouse insights in operational processes. Since then, dozens of Teradata clients have deployed highly competitive applications using ADW techniques.

Active Data Warehousing

The trend started by Teradata customers and Teradata Engineering now goes by the names "pervasive BI," "operational BI," "real-time BI" and Active Data Warehousing (ADW). Active Data Warehousing describes the technical techniques needed to achieve those goals.

An enterprise data warehouse is "just another database" but with the distinction that it contains the most trusted and comprehensive data owned by the enterprise. It can be used in all the ways databases can be used — in eCommerce web sites, employee portals, web services, Java and .NET applications, and embedded in batch or workflow processes.

The key to ADW applications is a robust, mature mixed-workload management subsystem. Teradata can help you concurrently run dozens of complex reports, multiple data load jobs, data mining and hundreds of fast tactical queries while meeting service level agreements for the front line user.

Active Data Warehousing Advantages

In the broadest sense, Active Data Warehousing extends the traditional data warehouse by enabling you to:
  • Provide access to analytic insights by customers, partners and suppliers
  • Deliver up-to-the-minute fresh data in operational reports
  • Develop new, highly competitive applications using web services, SOA and Web 2.0 technologies
  • Simplify the IT architecture and reduce costs by consolidating ODS repositories

Vital Active Elements

Your Active Data Warehouse requires attention to six critical success factors called "active elements":

Active Access
Frontline users access the data warehouse for operational decision making with a service level agreement of five seconds or less (also known as "web speed").

Active Load
Near-real time data enter the data warehouse via mini-batch loading, replication services or continuous streams of data from message queuing systems.

Active Events
Event-driven architectures and business activity monitoring detect significant business events and issue alerts for timely, informed decisions.

Active Workload Management
Dynamic priority management inside the data warehouse ensures service levels are achieved across multiple user communities and workload types.

Active Enterprise Integration
Integration tools and designs connect the data warehouse to web sites, portals, SOA, web services, enterprise service busses, workflow and batch systems.

Active Availability
Policies, procedures and redundant hardware ensure the entire information supply chain is protected when subsystem failure occurs.

Learn More
Gain insight on Active Data Warehousing from experts in their own words with these informative podcasts:
* The ROI Case For An Active Enterprise Data Warehouse -  Rob Armstrong
* Pervasive BI and Active Enterprise Intelligence -  Stephen Brobst
* Facing the Challenges of Operational Business Intelligence -  Dr. Claudia Imhoff
* Active Data Warehousing and CRM at Overstock.com -  Sam Peterson, CTO
* Active Enterprise Intelligence at UNUM Group -  Bruce Theriault
* Norfolk Southern Uses ADW for Superior Customer Satisfaction and ROI -  Linda Richardson

Additional Resources
* Applied Solutions -> Look before you leap -  Teradata Magazine
* Enabling the Agile Enterprise with Active Data Warehousing
* Critical Success Factors Deploying Pervasive BI -  Teradata, Informatica and MicroStrategy CTOs
* Enterprise View -> Know sooner rather than later -  Teradata Magazine
* Active data warehousing — the ultimate fulfillment of the operational data store -  Dr. Claudia Imhoff
* Best Practices Report in Operational BI -  The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI)
* Case Study -> Balancing act -  Teradata Magazine


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