Data warehouses vs operational databases

Most organisations have several systems — finance, sales, operations — each with its own database. Reporting across them is where a data warehouse helps.

Operational databases

Designed for day-to-day transactions: recording a sale, updating stock. Running heavy reports on them can slow down the systems staff rely on.

Data warehouses

Copy data from operational systems on a schedule, clean it and structure it for analysis. Reports and dashboards run against the warehouse.

When you need one

• Reports combine data from several systems.
• Historical trends matter beyond what source systems keep.
• Reporting queries affect operational performance.

Start small

Begin with the data behind the most important reports, then expand. A modest database designed for reporting is often enough.

Govern definitions

The warehouse is where definitions — what counts as a customer, a sale, an active project — become consistent.

See our data engineering and analytics services.