Operational Data Store from its very name, means a data store used for operational reasons, created by integrating data from diverse source systems. ODS can have following applications:
- TYPE I-Online data store, used for transaction execution and system interface purpose.
- TYPE II- Online data stores, used for Servicing and Relationship- This is a similar application as mentioned above, however the focus is limited to getting single customer, process and master data view for the sake of stakeholder servicing (like customer, employee and Vendor servicing).
- TYPE III- For reporting. Technically it is not an ODS, but people use the term for this application as well. You can have a reporting data to churn out your operational reporting.
Some De-mistifying comments
- An ODS can exist without a BI environment.
- An ODS may or may not do integration or transformation of Data. It can be just a router (as in TYPE I)
Question typically asked is on if an ODS can be placed before a staging data-base? The possible scenarios where it can happen are:
- ODS may come before staging area for TYPE I or TYPE II. The context here is that a staging area takes ODS as one of the source systems. In this way ETL can benefit from the data integration, sanitization and transformation which an ODS might have been already doing.
- If ODS fulfills most or all of the data needs of your Data-Mart, it will make sense to use it as the source system for your staging area. However, if ODS is one of five (say) source systems, you may like to reconsider your options.
- If you want to have a quicker data-mart implementation, you can place an ODS before staging even if it does not provide 100% of the information that you need.
This topic is dealt in more detail in ODS linkage to staging area of Data Warehouse in my portal Business Intelligence and Performance Management Institute .
