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Virtual warehouse, data mart, enterprise warehouse
Short answer
A virtual warehouse is a set of views over operational databases with little or no separate storage and no historical data. A data mart is a subset of warehouse data for one department, built faster and cheaper. An enterprise warehouse integrates all subject areas with detailed and summary data for the whole organization.
What are Virtual Warehouse, Data Mart and Enterprise Warehouse? Explain.
Virtual warehouse
A set of views defined over the operational databases, with no separate storage of the warehouse data (only some summary views may be materialised). It is easy and cheap to build, but queries run on operational servers (slowing them), and historical data is not kept. Example: a bank defines a view "monthly deposits per branch" on its transaction tables.
Data mart
A subset of the warehouse for one department or subject, such as marketing or sales. It is smaller, cheaper and faster to build, giving faster queries. It can be dependent (from an enterprise warehouse) or independent (from sources). Example: a telecom's "prepaid customers" mart.
Enterprise warehouse
Holds all subject areas of the whole organisation, with integrated, detailed and summary data from all sources. It needs large investment and long development, and is the single source of truth for decision making. Example: the central warehouse of a bank combining deposits, loans, cards and HR data.
| Point | Virtual | Data mart | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | Selected views | One subject | Whole organisation |
| Storage | None / little | Own | Own, very large |
| Build time | Short | Weeks to months | Months to years |
| History | No | Yes | Yes |
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