Difference between operational systems and data warehouse
Operational systems
maintain records of daily business transactions whereas a Data Warehouse is a
special database that serves as the integrated repository of company data, for
reporting and decision support purpose. In other words operational systems are where the data is put in, and the data
warehouse is where we get the data out.
In an operational system users takes
orders, sign up new customers, and log complaints. They almost always deal with
one record at a time in an operational system. They repeatedly perform the same
operational tasks over and over. On the other hand, the users of a data warehouse watch the
wheels of the organization turn. They count the new orders and compare them
with last week's orders and ask why the new customers signed up and what the
customers complained about. Users of a data warehouse almost never deal with
one row at a time.
Typical relational
databases are designed for on-line transactional processing (OLTP) and do not
meet the requirements for effective on-line analytical processing (OLAP). As a
result, data warehouses are designed differently than traditional relational
databases.