How to Modernise Your Data Warehouse
One of the critical changes in modern times is the entry of new technologies virtually in every industry. In data warehouses the same effect is very clear. Most of them are inflexible, outmoded and unresponsive in the marketplace. By modernising data warehouses and inherent operations, the results are immense, ranging from a decrease of administrative costs and data acquisition while enhancing overall performance, scalability and agility. Overcoming challenges related to data silos whilst building data related knowledge is very important. At the end of the day, you would have accelerated data warehouse related initiatives while expanding capabilities of data management and meeting demands of new and changing markets.
1. Parallel Processing
Most data warehouses have been around for some time and operate on the OLTP centered (online transaction processing) relational database management system (RDBMS). RDBMS are out of sync with data warehousing; they require an elaborate access to lots of records for the performance of the simplest of analytics like comparing trending data or performance over a period of time.
To ensure the online processing RDBMS are able to handle heavy data warehouse support needs for massive transactions and records, the tradition has been the use of indices, aggregate table and materialised views. As a result, heavy human resource, processing power and storage is needed to maintain the old tradition. It doesn’t create a real-time data addition since the indices, aggregate tables and materialised views needed to be created first.
The use of parallel processing in data warehousing ensures an elaborate granular reporting and data query among others. Analysis is thus undertaken on comprehensive data rather than data aggregates only.
2. Have a Data Lake in Place
Through a data lake, a unique storage repository, massive raw data is held as-is or in its raw format until it’s required. The result is a scale-out and cost effective system with parallel analytic and computing capabilities. The storage of all manner of data is simplified, whether unstructured such as audio, video, images and social media, semi-structured such as sensor feeds and web logs or structured.
3. In-database Analytics
One of the most important developments in the area of big data and a practical way of modernising data warehouses is in-database analytics. It allows algorithms and analytical models to be used within a database. The effort and time needed to move data around databases and around independent analytics environment as well as transforming it becomes very easy. In-database analytics actually helps in addressing the issue of moving massive amounts of data, a major shortcoming when it comes to the performance of advanced analytics. This ensures movement of terabytes of massive amounts of data is reduced to almost zero, which used to take hours. Processing time is also reduced.
4. Warehouse Data Optimisation
Covering all areas of a data warehouse, it involves rebalancing the data warehouse through the identification of unused resources and unused data, which are usually intensive workloads. It also involves a seamless integration of the current data warehouse through the use of a modern structure of data. Cost reduction takes place in the process enabling data assets to be well utilised to get more value out of your data.
5. Advanced Access to Data
One of the ways of modernising a data warehouse is allowing companies to extend their external data sources access as needed. This refers to a quick access to data sources rarely used by an organisation rather than having to move the data into a data lake or data warehouse. In the process, the external data is accessed and critically analysed as needed. Rather than to download all the organisation’s data from Facebook, LinkedIn or Pinterest, for instance, into your data warehouse, launch a conduit through the APIs of the respective social media sites and gain access to the detailed relevant data needed when you want to.
Here at TrustedBI we have an agnostic approach to data warehouse solutions, we will assess your requirements and recommend best way forward for your organisation.
To discuss further please email us today: enquiries@trustedbi.co.uk or call us for immediate answers on 01628 421512.