For over two decades, many large organizations have been using data warehouses as a critical tool for maximizing their investment in the massive amounts of business information that is being collected.  Some of the key benefits of implementing a data warehouse are:

• Reporting data is made available to individuals without hampering the ongoing production system.
• Reporting does not need to cease when key production systems are running.
• An organization can provide a common data model for different interest areas, regardless of the data’s source.
• Production data inconsistencies can be more easily identified and corrected.
• Single location for reporting data; everyone is analyzing and reporting on the same data.
• Reporting data is under the control of the data users.
• Data security can be optimized.
• Reporting against a data warehouse is more efficient; more timely business decisions can be made.
• More data can be retained for reporting than is usually available in production systems.
• Data is stored specifically for reporting and analysis efficiency, not for production efficiency as is the case for ERP systems.