4 reasons for a scalable data warehouse

Scalable data warehouse architecture is vital for the Credit Union Movement.  It gives credit unions the ability to flexibly change and add data to their data warehouse (DW).  With a constant flood of technological innovations and regulatory changes, credit unions are continually being bombarded by new data requirements.  Regulators, business executives, IT and other stakeholders are constantly requiring deeper analyses of the data residing within the credit union.  As software companies are able to process increasing amounts of data, credit unions have access to enormous amounts of data.  However, this influx of data can be disastrous if the DW within the credit union is not built to accommodate future changes and growth.  In order to fulfill the limited number of reporting goals that were detailed in the initial requirements, many organizations build a DW with only the present in mind.  It is human nature to fix a present situation without considering future needs.  However, with insight from data warehousing and BI professionals, envisioning the DW scalability necessary for the future advancements is possible.  If credit unions want to remain competitive and continue to propel their mission, they will need to take their DW architecture seriously.

Four major reasons that a credit union will need scalable DW architecture are:

1. Adding new source systems

As new databases enter the marketplace, a credit union data warehouse with scalable architecture will be able to seamlessly add and integrate them into their DW.  In a relational database model, tables are built with primary keys to allow integration with new data.  This is one way that a scalable DW can link new data around common attributes.  Credit union members are given a member number and other distinct attributes that can be integrated across source systems through primary keys.  Also, having a scalable DW gives IT better direction in preparing and maintaining new databases because they will know which attributes must remain the same in the new database for enabling integration with the DW.