Project Abstract

This project work intends to provide architecture for the technology in building of a standard, sophisticated and user-friendly data warehouse system which is platform independent and secured. The proposed work surely addressed the limitations identified within the scope of this project work. The limitations are identified by examining and analyzing the present system of reporting and managing data. The new system or proposed work uses a well written software in Java programming language which is OS independent with the aid of a database system; MySQL for collection of and storing of information / data / records. We proposed a new architecture motivated from traditional network from the present system of collecting and saving records. The proposed architecture is also conceptually evaluated for its viability

Project Overview

1.0           INTRODUCTION  

1.1       AN OVERVIEW OF A DATA WARE HOUSE SYSTEM

Today, organizations uses large amount of data daily depending on the kind of organization. However, most of these organizations’ collect its useful data majorly through manual paper recording instead of sophisticated and automated systems. Due to the use of paper recording of data, there can be many mishap since paper is a bio gradable material and also slow and prone to natural disaster and damage.

 It is this identification of problems in trends that enabled the decision of building a stronger and more reliable system of collecting, recording and analyzing data, and this is the main aim of this project work.

 The end users are company managers, project managers, and university vice chancellor, Head of Department, stake holders, many team leaders, etc. It should be noted at this point that there is need for adequate training on the use of this proposed system before it can be used properly.

 A data warehouse prerequisite is that database has to exist in the different organizational unit of an organization so that the data warehouse can collect information / records/ data by querying it into its own database.

 Furthermore, it is multidimensional modeled and is used for the storage of histories, cleansed, validated, synthesized, operative, internal and external data. Stakeholders of a data warehouse system are interested in analyzing their business processes in a comprehensive and flexible way. Mostly they already have a comprehensive understanding of their organizational processes which they want to explore and analyze. What they actually need is a view of their organizational processes and its data which allows them have an extensive analysis of their data.

The design of the proposed data warehouse system is to take care of any form of database technology. So it will be built to be able to collect information / data in database such as oracle, SQL server, my SQL, access and from CSV file. I believe that all institutions can’t go outside these systems.

  1.2     BACKGROUND REVIEW OF THE STUDY

Since development come that triggered the necessity to record information in different areas of endeavor, it has always been difficult to manage large amount of data. This is still a serious problem in the developing economy such as Nigeria.

 The present system used manual way of writing on paper and recording. Their process is very slow and the proposed system, data warehouse is been introduced to solve all this problems. This new system will be capable of retrieving data from any kind of database.

Also, with the use of the present system, heads of various departments finds it difficult to gather all information needed by them. Data coming from various units also varies which bring about inconsistencies. Data warehouse is useful because it is capable of retrieving all these information from different sub-system databases and collecting it into the data warehouse thus, bringing a great deal of speed and confidence in the part of management leaders.

 Considering the limitations of manual systems, data warehouse were developed to meet the growing demand for management of information and analysis that could not be met by the present systems. The present system was unable to meet the need of fast processing which greatly reduced response time.

1.3       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Before the advent of data warehouse, organizations including Universities used manual means of recording and reporting data. Materials used were pen, ink and paper. These records can be photocopied and reported. There were so many disadvantages associated with this material especially the paper which has a time span. Based on these challenges, I seek to alleviate the problem by implementing a data warehouse that is electronically driven.

In the present system, data or records that were considered old would be removed from its storage for quick response time. This was done for the purpose of making the response time easier to maintain. This is done to give way to the new records /data coming in. when data warehouse are designed properly and implemented, they can bring a large number of advantages to the organization/universities that use them. They can give an organization a forecast of how the organization is performing as a whole. It can help executives, managers and stakeholders on how to make crucial decisions that can help an organization or institution to succeed.

1.4       OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this project work is to design a Data Warehouse for collection of data from separate database sources and store it in a data warehouse for further administrative uses/function, in a conducive format that is readily usable. To achieve this, the following are the objectives to be fulfilled.

1.     Discuss the exiting ways or techniques of managing datas, records and reporting and identifying their limitations based on literature survey.

2.     Propose an architecture addressing identified limitations.

3.     Evaluate the proposed architecture for its viability

4.     And lastly, address the scope for its future work

1.5       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is proposed to Caritas University, Enugu. This proposed system will be able to bring together data from different departments and sections of Caritas University Enugu and put the data into a centralized data warehouse in a format that is conducive to making strategic decisions.

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Data warehouses when designed and implemented properly, they can bring a large number of advantages to the organization / Universities that use them. The can give an organization a forecast on how the organization is performing as a whole, ensuring a competitive advantage, thus can be applied in other fields such as police stations, production companies, hospital, Banks etc.

 1.7     LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Having mentioned the usefulness of the data warehouse, a quiet number of factors may also affect this study. The factors are:

1.     The acceptance of implementing this project work into the school system.

2.     The present knowledge base on database management.

3.     The cost of carrying out the project.

1.8       DEFINITION OF TERMS / VARIABLES

DATA CLEANSING- the process of ensuring that all values in a dataset are consistent and accurate

DATA MINING- the extraction of hidden predictive information from large database

DATA NAVIGATION- the process of viewing different dimensions, slices, and levels of details of multidimensional databases.

DATA VISUALISATION- The visual interpretation of complex relationships in multidimensional data.

DATA WAREHOUSE- a system for storing and delivering massive quantities of data.

METADATA- the information of the data stored in database

OLAP- Online Analytic Processing

OLTP- Online Transaction Processing

DATABASE- A collection of logically related data to meet the information need of the organization

DBMS- Database management software that enables the user to define, maintain control the database

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM- Collection of people, database and devices produced to use in providing routine information to manager and decision makers of the organization

DATABASE DESIGN- The process of creating a design that will support task to the mission statement and mission required database system.