Data warehouse automation (DWA) refers to the process of accelerating and automating the
data warehouse development cycles, while assuring quality and consistency. DWA is believed to provide
automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
of the entire lifecycle of a data warehouse, from source
system analysis
System analysis in the field of electrical engineering characterizes electrical systems and their properties. System analysis can be used to represent almost anything from population growth to audio speakers; electrical engineers often use it be ...
to
testing
An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...
to
documentation
Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance and use. As a form of knowledge manageme ...
. It helps improve productivity, reduce cost, and improve overall quality.
General
Data warehouse automation primarily focuses on automation of each and every step involved in the
lifecycle
Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to:
Science and academia
* Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring
*Life-cycle hypothesis ...
of a data warehouse, thus reducing the efforts required in managing it.
Data warehouse automation works on the principles of
design patterns
''Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software'' (1994) is a software engineering book describing software design patterns. The book was written by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides, with a foreword ...
. It comprises a central repository of design patterns, which encapsulate architectural standards as well as best practices for
data design,
data management
Data management comprises all disciplines related to handling data as a valuable resource.
Concept
The concept of data management arose in the 1980s as technology moved from sequential processing (first punched cards, then magnetic tape) to r ...
,
data integration, and data usage.
In November 2015, an analyst firm has published a guide ''Which Data Warehouse Automation Tool is Right for You?'' covering four of the leading products in the DWA space. In November 2015, an international software and technology services company engaged in developing ‘
agile tools’ for the data integration industry, was named by CIO Review as one of the 20 most promising productivity tools solution providers 2015.
Benefits
Data warehouse automation can provide advantages like source
data exploration Data exploration is an approach similar to initial data analysis, whereby a data analyst uses visual exploration to understand what is in a dataset and the characteristics of the data, rather than through traditional data management systems. , warehouse data models,
ETL generation,
test automation
In software testing, test automation is the use of software separate from the software being tested to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes. Test automation can automate some repetitive bu ...
,
metadata management
Metadata management involves managing metadata about other data, whereby this "other data" is generally referred to as content data. The term is used most often in relation to digital media, but older forms of metadata are catalogs, dictionaries ...
,
managed deployment, scheduling, change impact analysis and easier maintenance and modification of the data warehouse. More important than the technical features of data warehouse automation tools, however, is the ability to deliver projects faster and with less resources.
See also
*
Data warehouse
*
Data mart
*
Data warehouse appliance
In computing, the term data warehouse appliance (DWA) was coined by Foster Hinshaw for a computer architecture for data warehouses (DW) specifically marketed for big data analysis and discovery that is simple to use (not a pre-configuration) and ha ...
*
Data integration
*
WhereScape
References
External links
*
CIO Magazine Award - 20 Most promising productivity tools 'CIO Review', November 10, 2015
{{Data_warehouse
Data management
Data warehousing