Data warehouse maintenance: improving data warehouse perfomance through efficient maintenance

Abstract: Data warehousing has been a buzz word in the IT industry since mid 90’s.
Researchers are constantly involved in finding new and improved ways for the
design and development of data warehouses. But unlike traditional
operational information systems used for running the day to day business of
an organization, data warehouses require a lot more maintenance and support.
The real work of taking output from the data warehouse depends largely on
how it is managed. Although a lot of research is going on to enhance the
design and development of data warehouses, very little effort has been spent
on the maintenance side. Without proper maintenance data warehouse is not
going to give the desired output which is expected of it. As data
warehousing projects are very expensive, it is extremely desirable that it
gives the desired results and functions smoothly. In this research study we
have tried to figure out the currently available maintenance methods being
used by the industry today to enhance the data warehouse performance. First
we have gathered data from the books, journals, articles and the internet to
see which maintenance mechanisms are available. Than we have gathered data
related to data warehouse maintenance from a company using data warehouse
and finally we have compared the theoretical findings with the real world
findings and gave our opinion on the best possible strategies to improve
data warehouse performance through efficient maintenance.