INCORPORATING EXTERNAL DATA INTO DATA WAREHOUSES: CHARACTERIZING AND CATEGORIZING SUPPLIERS AND TYPES OF EXTERNAL DATA

摘要

In order for organizations to survive and maintain their competitive edge, they must understand what is going on in their environment. One application, designed to contribute to such an understanding, is the data ware-house (DW). Traditionally, the focus of DW development projects has been on data internal to the organization, but as the competitive forces have become more important to understand and react upon, the importance of external data has been increasingly recognized. Unfortunately, the literature describing DWs provides little detail on what kinds of external data that might be incorporated and how they might support decision-making. Therefore, in this paper we present the results of an interview study conducted among DW consultants, and aimed at outlining the most important external domains about which to incorporate data, what data may be incorporated, from which sources they are acquired, and how they are used as a basis for decision making.