What Is a Data Warehouse?

A data warehouse is a collection of data that is extracted from one or more sources for the purpose of query and analysis. For example, a toy company might create a data warehouse that integrates sales, product, and customer information from various sources. This collection would help the company analyze how toy sales are affected by geography, by different promotions, by the gender and age of the customer, and by other factors.

A data mart is a limited data warehouse that is often designed to meet the needs of a particular department or individual. A data mart is more limited in scope than a data warehouse, which typically contains information used by more than one department.

Note:   Terms that are in italics are defined in the glossary.  

Copyright © 2012 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.