Page 234 - DCAP603_DATAWARE_HOUSING_AND_DATAMINING

Data Warehousing and Data Mining

notes
figure 12.1 (a)

There are two items in Figure 12.1(a) that have not been discussed so far. The decision processing
operations box in the diagram represents the meta data used in managing the operation of a
decision processing system. This includes meta data for tracking extract jobs, business user access
to the system, and so forth. The common business model box represents the business information
requirements of the organization. This model provides a high-level view, by business subject
area, of the information in the warehousing system. It is used to provide common understanding
and naming of information across warehouse projects.

12.2.3 Meta Data sharing and interchange

Past attempts by vendors at providing tools for the sharing and interchange of meta data have
involved placing the meta data in a central meta data store or repository, providing import/
export utilities and programmatic APIs to this store and creating a common set of meta-models for
describing the meta data in the store. In the transaction processing environment, this centralized
approach has had mixed success, and there have been many failures. In the decision processing
marketplace, vendors are employing a variety of centralized and distributed approaches for meta
data management. The techniques used fall into one of three categories:
1. Meta data repositories for meta data sharing and interchange
2. Meta data interchange “standards” defined by vendor coalitions
3. Vendor specific “open” product APIs for meta data interchange.

Given that multiple decision processing meta data approaches and “standards” are likely to
prevail, we will, for the foreseeable future, be faced with managing multiple meta data stores, even
if those stores are likely to become more open. The industry trend toward building distributed
environments involving so-called federated data warehouses, consisting of an enterprise
warehouse and/or multiple data marts, will also encourage the creation of multiple meta data
stores. The only real solution to meta data management is to provide a facility for managing the
flow of meta data between different meta data stores and decision processing products. This
capability is provided using a meta data hub for the technical staff and a business information
directory for business users Figure 12.1(b).

228 LoveLy professionaL university