CASE 3 : Henry Schein Inc.: The Business Value of a Data Warehouse

Case Study Questions and Answers

1. What are some of the key requirements for building a good data warehouse? Use Henry ScheinInc. as an example.
Answer:

A database management system is a set of computer programs that controls the creation, maintenance, and use of the databases of an organization. Major uses are database development, database interrogation, database maintenance, and development of application programs.

Key requirements would include:

• Those involved in building the data warehouse should have the right skills and experience.
• Ensure data quality.
• Determine on the front-end the information the potential business users need access to and the reports they want to see.
• Analyze the old paper reports and the condition of the data housed in the company’s core transaction system.
• Standardize transactional codes in order to produce reports needed.
• Developing and testing summary tables to make queries work faster.

2. What are the key software tools needed to construct and use a data warehouse?

Answer:
Key software tools need would include:

• Data extraction software.
• User query and reporting software.
• Data transformation and loading software.

3. What is the business value of a data warehouse to Henry Schein? To any company?

Answer:

The business value would include:

• Determine the most profitable customers.
• Determine which customers to target with special promotion offers.
• Analyze the business by product category, sales territory, etc.
• Determine which customers should be included in specific direct marketing efforts.
• Ability of a user to add more fields to reports as they are using the system.