Building the Data Warehouse, 4th Edition

The most comprehensive introduction to the core concepts and methods of data warehousing

Data warehouses provide a much-needed strategy for organizations to collect, store, and analyze vast amounts of business data. As businesses expand both brick-and-mortar and online activities, the field of data warehousing has become increasingly important. Since it was first published in 1990, W. H. Inmon's Building the Data Warehouse has been the bible of data warehousing— it is the book that launched the data warehousing industry and it remains the preeminent introduction to the subject. This new edition covers the latest developments with this technology, many of which have been pioneered by Inmon himself.

An overview of all the fundamental components of data warehouse systems offers you a refresher of the methods used for data warehouse design; various data warehouse migration strategies; and the technologies that can be applied for loading, indexing, and managing data. In order to bring you up to date, this in-depth guide then features the latest advances in data warehousing.

New chapters cover:

• Understanding methods for handling unstructured data in a data warehouse
• Storing data across multiple storage media
• Examining the pros and cons of relational vs. multidimensional design
• Measuring return on investment in planning data warehouse projects
• Exploring advanced topics, including data monitoring and testing