DATA WAREHOUSING FUNDAMENTALS: A Comprehensive Guide for IT Professionals

16.1. CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

• Understand what Web-enabling the data warehouse means and examine the reasons for doing so

• Appreciate the implications of the convergence of Web technologies and those of the data warehouse

• Probe into all the facets of Web-based information delivery

• Study how OLAP and the Web connect and learn the different approaches to connecting them

• Examine the steps for building a Web-enabled data warehouse

What is the most dominant phenomenon in computing and communication that started in the 1990s? Undoubtedly, it is the Internet with the Worldwide Web. The impact of the Web on our lives and businesses can be matched only by a very few other developments over the past years.

In the 1970s, we experienced a major breakthrough when the personal computer was ushered in with its graphical interfaces, pointing devices, and icons. Today's breakthrough is the Web, which is built on the earlier revolution. Making the personal computer useful and effective was our goal in the 1970s and 1980s. Making the Web useful and effective is our goal today. The growth of the Internet and the use of the Web have overshadowed the earlier revolution. At the beginning of the year 2000, about 50 million households worldwide were estimated to be using the Internet. By the end of 2005, this number is expected to grow ten-fold. About 500 million households worldwide will be browsing the Web by then.

The Web changes everything, as they say. Data warehousing is no exception. In the 1980s, data warehousing ...