Building the Operational Data Store, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

by William H. Inmon (Author) "In the beginning of the information systems profession were applications..." (more)
Key Phrases: Appl Appl, Operational Data Stores, Bill Inmon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The most comprehensive guide to building, using, and managing the operational data store.

Building the Operational Data Store, Second Edition.

In the five years since the publication of the first edition of this book, the operational data store has grown from an intriguing concept to an exciting reality at enterprise organizations, worldwide. Still the only guide on the subject, this revised and expanded edition of Bill Inmon's classic goes beyond the theory of the first edition to provide detailed, practical guidance on designing, building, managing, and getting the most of an ODS.

With the help of fascinating and instructive case studies, Inmon shares what he knows about:
* How the ODS fits with the corporate information factory.
* Different types of ODS and how to choose the right one for your organization.
* Designing and building an ODS from scratch.
* Managing and fine-tuning an ODS for peak efficiency.
* ODS support technology.
* The pros and cons of competing off-the-shelf ODS products.
* The advantages and disadvantages of various hardware and software platforms.
* Integrating the ODS with data marts.
* Distributed metadata using the ODS.
* Data aggregation within the ODS.
* Business process reengineering and the ODS.
* The role of standards in the ODS.

From the Publisher
Known as the 'father of the data warehouse,' Bill Inmon and his co-authors describe what the operational data store is and how it differs from the data warehouse. Details the steps in constructing an operational data store along with related database design techniques. Explains how the data store connects to decision support and executive information data. Includes an outline of a workplan and numerous case studies to facilitate understanding. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 2nd edition (May 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047132888X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471328889
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #680,119 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ODS demystified, October 4, 2000

By	eganov (WI USA) - See all my reviews

The ODS is probably one of the least understood and most confusing concepts within the Corporate Information Factory. Most likely because it is, by definition, a compromise, in both purpose and design, between operational and decision support systems. Although Inmon generally does not write with the clarity of Kimball, after reading this book most confusion about the ODS should be eliminated. The author does a good job of describing the concepts as well as deeper issues such as high and low level ODS designs. About half the book is really good while the other half will either be redundant to anyone in the industry (Managing an ODS, Role of Standards, Hardware and Software Requirements) or contains information mainly to "pump up the volume" (Big glossary, Project Milestones, Articles of Interest). Overall though it's pretty good and required reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only a few of excellent idea/concept in the book, December 3, 2001

By	"comelite" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

Without previous experience on data warehousing or ODS, you will be killed by this book. So many confusing topics need to be figured out by yourself. Not for beginner!
However, some ideas/concepts in the book are very important for a correct implementation of ODS:
bring star-join to ODS,
classification of ODS,
bring Object oriented methodology to ODS

To be objective, the author really invented something new, but he did not need to write a book; a 30-page white paper will do the job perfectly.

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Difficult reading for the amount of information, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

I am a big fan of Ralph Kimball's data warehouse books. I was looking for a similar book for operational data stores, and had hoped this would be it. I was disappointed. There is a good bit of information in this book, but it is not written with the clarity of Kimball's books. The biggest disappointment though is the lack of real examples of ODS data models. I expect examples to be less "definitive" for an ODS than for a DW, nevertheless I desire something more tangible than what is presented in this book.