Chapter 7 - Statistical processing and DW 2.0

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the statistical analysis, which is one of the important functions of any data warehouse. The reason why statistical analysis is different from other forms of analysis is that statistical analysis of necessity looks across broad vistas of data. Other forms of analysis look at much smaller sets of data. The vista of information examined by statistics is much longer than other forms of analysis. It is normal when doing statistical analysis to look across 5 years, 10 years, or even more. DW 2.0 supports statistical analysis and processing just as it supports other forms of analysis. Depending on the type and frequency of statistical analysis, DW 2.0 can be used either directly or indirectly. There are many things that can be done with statistical analysis. One of the simplest statistical analyses that can be done is the creation of a profile of data. A profile of data is a statistical summary of the contents of a body of data.