- 2065 Baisakh
DW characteristics vs operational database
Short answer
A data warehouse is subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant, non-volatile, large-volume, decision-support oriented. Unlike operational databases, it stores historical summarized and detailed data, uses denormalized star schemas, supports complex ad hoc queries, and is refreshed periodically rather than updated transaction by transaction.
Explain the characteristics of a Data Warehouse. How is an operational database different from a Data Warehouse?
A data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant and non-volatile collection of data used for decision making.
Characteristics
- Subject-oriented: organised around major subjects such as customer, product, sales, not around day-to-day operations.
- Integrated: data from many sources is made consistent in naming, units, formats and encoding.
- Time-variant: data is kept as historical snapshots (5-10 years); every record has a time element.
- Non-volatile: data is loaded and read, but not updated or deleted in place; only refreshed periodically.
- Large volume: stores years of detailed and summarised data, in GB to TB.
- Decision-support oriented: built for queries and analysis, not transactions.
Operational database vs data warehouse
| Point | Operational database (OLTP) | Data warehouse |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Day-to-day transactions | Analysis and decision support |
| Data | Current, detailed | Historical, summarised and detailed |
| Orientation | Application-oriented | Subject-oriented |
| Update | Frequent insert/update/delete | Periodic bulk load, read-mostly |
| Design | Normalised (ER model) | Denormalised (star/snowflake) |
| Query | Short, simple, predefined | Complex, ad hoc, aggregate |
| Users | Clerks, DBAs (thousands) | Managers, analysts (few) |
| Size | MB to GB | GB to TB |
✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)
Related questions
- Data warehouse vs database · Data Mining, chapter 1
- RDBMS vs DW database; DW terms · Data Mining, chapter 1
- DMQL; transactional vs warehouse database · Data Mining, chapter 2
- Data warehouse and its characteristics · Data Mining, chapter 1
- Data mining vs DW and applications · Data Mining, chapter 1
- Importance, uses and characteristics of DW · Data Mining, chapter 1
- Data warehouse and data mining · Information System, chapter 4 · asked 2×
- Thermal versus hydro operational characteristics · Power Plant Design, chapter 1 · asked 8×
- Solar versus hydro operational characteristics · Power Plant Design, chapter 1 · asked 5×
- Operational characteristics of combined cycle plant · Power Plant Design, chapter 1