Competitive pressure and the need for advanced business knowledge force companies to gather all the data from their operational data stores into a corporate, large-scale data warehouse. In this way, they try to leverage the immense business value hidden in these data sources. This book discusses the impact of the Internet as an information accelerator on data warehousing. It suggests a close integration of the two technologies, resulting in a highly interactive and intuitive Web-based decision support environment. Access to data warehouses should no longer be the privilege of employees alone, but should be extended to customers suppliers, and other interested third parties. An ordinary but easy-to-use Web browser should be the central access point for all warehouse-based applications.

This book consists of 16 chapters, a glossary, and a bibliography. The introduction provides a couple of definitions and ideas concerning data warehousing in general. The pivotal role of an architecture in setting up a data warehouse environment is addressed in chapter 2. The convergence of the Internet and decision support systems, and the resulting benefits and challenges, are mentioned in chapter 3. Several technologies related to data warehousing--including data mining, online analytic processing (OLAP), DBMSs, and security--are discussed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 clarifies the basic ideas behind object orientation, distributed object computing, and object request brokers.

A data warehouse project is a risky adventure, so companies often start with small-scale, application-specific data marts. Topics related to data marts are discussed in chapter 6. Chapter 7 explains the basic concepts behind OLAP and suggests integrating OLAP and Web technologies to provide interactive decision support over the Internet. Security features related to deploying a data warehouse on the Web are described in chapter 8. The importance of accurate metadata management by means of an enterprise repository is highlighted in chapter 9.

Chapter 10 covers the impact of different types of DBMSs (RDMBS, ODBMS, ORDBMS, and distributed DBMS) on data warehousing. Chapter 11 deals with several topics related to client/server environments. The importance of Web-based client/server computing for data warehouses is strongly emphasized. Chapter 12 discusses several issues related to implementing a Web-enabled data warehouse. It provides an implementation plan and mentions several factors and pitfalls that must be considered during implementation. Providing Web-based access to a data warehouse by means of a corporate intranet is suggested in chapter 13. Chapter 14 discusses the process of building and accessing Web-enabled data warehouses. Data warehouse management issues (such as metadata management, management of change, and warehouse delivery) are mentioned in chapter 15. Finally, chapter 16 provides an overall summary and some important conclusions.

All chapters provide in-depth analyses of the topics discussed. However, additional examples and illustrations of some of the theoretical concepts (such as object orientation and OLAP) would have been welcome. Furthermore, explanations of the basic concepts behind data warehousing (for example, star schema, snowflake schema, fact table, and dimension table) would also have been useful. Nevertheless, the book provides some interesting ideas regarding the successful interactive deployment of data warehouses. Throughout, the author provides tips for optimizing performance and avoiding failure of the entire data warehouse project. Critical success factors are also strongly emphasized.

The book is suitable for novices, although a background in IT would be very useful. I recommend it to all professionals interested in deploying data warehouses on the Web.