Data is the foundation of any meaningful corporate initiative. Fully master the necessary data, and you’re more than halfway to success. That’s why leverageable (i.e., multiple use) artifacts of the enterprise data environment are so critical to enterprise success.

Build them once (keep them updated), and use again many, many times for many and diverse ends. The data warehouse remains focused strongly on this goal. And that may be why, nearly 40 years after the first database was labeled a “data warehouse,” analytic database products still target the data warehouse.