Building data warehouse from scratch

Choose between Datawarehouse or something else?

o Data Warehouse: Ideal for organizations needing to integrate, store, and
analyze large volumes of structured data over time for business
intelligence, reporting, and historical analysis.
o Alternative Solutions: If you need real-time data processing, simplified
or cost-effective analytics, or don’t have significant data volume,
alternatives like data lakes, data marts, cloud-based solutions, or
self-service BI tools might be better suited.

Key questions to answer

1. What is the primary purpose for your data? Is it mainly for
operational decision-making or historical analysis?
2. How fast does your data need to be processed and analyzed? Do
you need real-time analytics, or can it be batch-processed?
3. What types of data do you have? Is it structured (e.g., transactional
data), unstructured (e.g., logs, social media), or semi-structured (e.g.,
JSON)?
4. How scalable is your current infrastructure? Are you expecting
significant data growth, and can your current systems handle that growth
efficiently?
5. What is your budget for infrastructure and implementation? A full
data warehouse can require significant investment in both time and
money.

Consolidating data for an enterprise involves choosing the right data architecture
that allows you to integrate, store, and manage data from multiple sources to
provide actionable insights and drive business value. The key options for
consolidating enterprise data include data warehouses, data lakes, data
marts, and data hubs, each of which has specific strengths and ideal use
cases. Choosing between them depends on factors like the type of data you
have, the speed and flexibility of analysis required, the scalability, and the
overall business goals.
Here’s a breakdown of the main options for data consolidation and how to
choose between them:
1. Data Warehouse (DW)
What It Is:
A data warehouse is a centralized repository for structured, historical data that
has been integrated and transformed for analytical purposes. It uses an ETL
(Extract, Transform, Load) process to clean, standardize, and structure data
before it is stored.
Strengths:
 Structured Data: Optimized for structured data from transactional
systems (e.g., sales, finance, CRM).
 Business Intelligence (BI): Ideal for BI tools and complex querying,
reporting, and dashboards.
 Data Integration: Aggregates data from various sources and transforms
it to provide a unified, consistent view.
 Performance: High-performance querying on large datasets, especially
for complex reporting and historical analysis.
 Data Consistency: Ensures data quality, consistency, and governance
through transformation and cleansing.
Best for:
 Historical analysis and reporting on structured data.
 Organizations that require reliable, consistent datasets for decision-
making.
 Businesses that prioritize data governance and quality.
 Long-term business intelligence and performance monitoring.
When Not to Choose:
 If you have large volumes of unstructured or semi-structured data (e.g.,
social media, IoT, images, documents).
 If you require real-time analytics or data from high-velocity sources.
2. Data Lake
What It Is:
A data lake is a large-scale, centralized repository that can store raw,
unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data at any scale. It typically uses
a schema-on-read approach, meaning data is stored in its raw form and
structured only when read or queried.
Strengths:
 Flexibility: Can handle all types of data — structured (databases), semi-
structured (logs, JSON), and unstructured (images, audio, video).
 Scalability: Cost-effective and scalable storage for big data, often in
cloud environments like AWS S3, Azure Data Lake, or Google Cloud
Storage.
 Data Agility: Data can be ingested quickly and in real-time, allowing for
the storage of a variety of data formats.
  Advanced Analytics: Supports machine learning, data mining, and big
data analytics with tools like Apache Hadoop, Spark, and TensorFlow.
Best for:
 Storing large volumes of diverse data (including IoT data, social media
data, logs, sensor data).
 Organizations looking to perform advanced analytics, including machine
learning and predictive analytics.
 Businesses with a variety of data sources that don’t require immediate
structure.
 Data exploration and discovery in a raw format (for example, data
scientists working with unprocessed data).
When Not to Choose:
 If your primary need is structured, high-performance querying for
traditional BI purposes.
 If you don’t have the infrastructure or tools to process and manage large
unstructured data.
3. Data Mart
What It Is:
A data mart is a subset of a data warehouse, often focused on a specific
department or business unit (e.g., sales, finance, marketing). Data marts contain
data that is relevant to specific analytical needs but typically do not have the
breadth of data available in the full data warehouse.
Strengths:
 Department-Specific Focus: Focuses on specific business functions or
departments, allowing for faster, more relevant insights.
 Simpler Setup: Easier and quicker to implement than a full data
warehouse, and can be a good option for smaller-scale data integration.
 Cost-Effective: Because it’s smaller and more focused, it can be less
expensive and resource-intensive to maintain than a full data warehouse.
Best for:
 Smaller teams or departments that need specialized data for analysis.
 Rapid insights for specific business functions (e.g., sales performance,
marketing campaigns).
 Organizations that don't need an enterprise-wide data warehouse and
prefer a more modular approach.
When Not to Choose:
 If you need enterprise-wide data consolidation.
  If there’s a need for large-scale, cross-functional analysis (e.g., combined
financial, sales, and customer data).
4. Data Hub
What It Is:
A data hub is a centralized data architecture that integrates multiple data
sources (both structured and unstructured) but does not necessarily store data
itself in one central location. Instead, it acts as an intermediary, providing a
unified access layer to distributed data across multiple systems.
Strengths:
 Data Integration: It serves as a “hub” for accessing data across different
systems without moving data into a central repository (i.e., data
federation).
 Real-Time Access: Provides real-time access to multiple systems or data
sources for operational use cases.
 Decoupling Data Sources: It integrates data without requiring full-scale
ETL processes or data replication.
 Flexibility: Supports both operational data and analytic data, allowing
organizations to interact with data in real-time.
Best for:
 Real-time, operational data access and integration.
 Organizations that need to aggregate data from multiple disparate sources
without centralizing it.
 Hybrid environments with multiple systems (e.g., cloud, on-premise, third-
party) where you want to avoid moving large amounts of data.
When Not to Choose:
 If you require deep historical analysis or complex querying of large
volumes of data.
 If you're working with vast amounts of data that need to be processed and
stored in a centralized location.
5. Choosing the Right Solution: Key Considerations
When deciding between these options, ask the following questions:
A. What Types of Data Do You Have?
 Structured Data: If most of your data is structured (e.g., relational
databases, transactional data), a data warehouse may be ideal.
 Unstructured or Semi-Structured Data: If you have large amounts of
semi-structured (logs, social media, JSON) or unstructured data (images,
audio), a data lake is likely a better fit.
B. What is Your Primary Use Case?
  Business Intelligence & Reporting: If your primary goal is reporting, BI,
and historical analysis of structured data, a data warehouse is the best
option.
 Advanced Analytics: If you need to perform machine learning, predictive
analytics, and data science on large volumes of varied data, a data lake
is better.
 Real-Time Operational Data: If real-time integration and access to
operational data across systems are required, a data hub could be the
best solution.
C. How Fast Does Data Need to Be Processed?
 Batch Processing (ETL): If your data is processed in batches (e.g., daily
or weekly reports), a data warehouse is more suitable.
 Real-Time Processing: If you need real-time data ingestion and
processing, a data lake with streaming analytics capabilities or a data
hub may be a better choice.
D. How Large is Your Data?
 Big Data: If you’re dealing with massive volumes of data, especially
unstructured data, a data lake can handle large-scale storage without
needing to structure it upfront.
 Medium to Small Data: For more manageable datasets or if only a
specific department requires insights, a data mart may be sufficient.
E. Budget and Resources
 Cost-Effective Scaling: Data lakes (especially in the cloud) offer cost-
effective scalability for large volumes of data.
 Complexity & Maintenance: Data warehouses often require more
upfront investment in ETL processes, and ongoing maintenance can be
more complex than a simpler data mart or data hub solution.

6. Conclusion
 Data Warehouse: Best for organizations with structured data that require
consistent, high-performance analytics, reporting, and historical insights
across departments.
 Data Lake: Ideal for businesses dealing with large volumes of diverse,
unstructured data and seeking flexible, scalable storage with advanced
analytics capabilities.
 Data Mart: Suitable for smaller-scale, department-specific analytics with
a focus on speed and cost-effectiveness.
 Data Hub: Best for real-time data integration across distributed sources
without needing to store all data centrally.
In practice, many organizations opt for a hybrid architecture, using data
lakes for raw, unstructured data and data warehouses for structured,
analytical data. A data hub might also be integrated to unify access to multiple
systems.
Ultimately, the best solution will depend on your data types, business objectives,
use cases, scalability needs, and budget.