Glossary of Terms

Data Warehousing

Keyword Definition
Batch Processing Processing data in large blocks at scheduled intervals.
Business Intelligence A technology-driven process for analyzing data and presenting actionable information to help corporate executives, business managers, and other end-users make more informed business decisions.
Business Intelligence (BI) A set of technologies and processes for analyzing data and presenting actionable information to help executives, managers, and other corporate end users make informed business decisions.
Change Data Capture The process of identifying and capturing changes made to data in real time, enabling real time updates to data warehouses.
Dashboard A visual display that presents key information and metrics in an easily digestible format, allowing users to monitor performance and track progress towards goals.
Data Analysis The process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data to discover useful information that can support decision-making in business intelligence.
Data Cleansing The process of identifying and correcting or removing errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies in data stored in the data warehouse.
Data Latency The delay between data being generated and being available for reporting and analysis in a data warehouse.
Data Mart A smaller, specialized subset of a data warehouse that is focused on a particular business function or department.
Data Mining The process of discovering patterns, insights, and valuable information from large datasets stored in the data warehouse.
Data Visualization The graphical representation of information and data, using visual elements such as charts, graphs, and maps, to facilitate understanding and decision-making in business intelligence.
Data Warehousing The process of collecting, organizing, and storing data to be retrieved and analyzed later.
Denormalization A database design technique that reduces the need for frequent joins by consolidating tables, thus improving query performance.
ETL The process of extracting data from various sources, transforming it to fit the data warehouse schema, and loading it into the data warehouse.
ETL Tool A software tool or platform that facilitates the automation and management of the Extract, Transform, Load process.
Event Driven Architecture A design pattern where the flow of the application is determined by events that occur, rather than being controlled by a central program flow.
Extract The first step in the Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process, which involves retrieving data from various sources, such as databases, files, or APIs.
Extraction The process of retrieving or pulling data from the source systems or applications.
Fact Table A central table in a data warehouse that contains the primary measures or metrics of a business process.
Load The third and final step in the ETL process, which involves transferring the transformed data into the target database, data warehouse, or application.
Micro-Batch Processing Where data is processed in small, fixed-size batches rather than processing the data all at once.
OLAP The capability of a system to provide multidimensional analysis of data in a data warehouse.
OLTP Database A traditional database system that prioritizes data integrity and normalization to minimize redundancy.
Predictive Analytics Using statistical techniques and machine learning algorithms to analyze current and historical data to make predictions about future events and outcomes in business intelligence.
Real Time Updates The process of updating data in a data warehouse as soon as new information becomes available.
Real-Time Analytics The analysis of data as soon as it is acquired, often used to make immediate decisions or respond to events as they happen.
Time-Stamped Data Data entries associated with specific time periods, allowing for comparisons across different time frames.
Transform The second step in the ETL process, which involves converting and restructuring the extracted data into a format suitable for the destination system or application.
Unnormalized Database A database design approach that intentionally introduces data redundancy to improve query efficiency.
Validation The process of ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and quality of the extracted and transformed data.