4. Setting up a warehouse

While the need to set up a warehouse may seem obvious when it comes to implementing a business intelligence system, the first stumbling block encountered concerns the method to be used.

We present here a few methodological elements in the main steps involved in designing and implementing a warehouse.

On the whole, the methods used to develop transactional processing are proving to be unsuitable, particularly cascade and V approaches. It should be noted, however, that some of their models or steps can be advantageously reused in the development of decision-making systems.

For example, the MERISE method or the unified process (based on UML) offer an approach for defining and implementing data and processes. The starting point of such a process is the needs specified by the operational users, always identifiable and...