Building an Operational Data Store for a Direct Marketing Application System

• Main Author: Smith, Chad
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@CalPoly 2009
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/51; https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=theses

An operational data store (ODS) can be generally described as an architectural construct that is both similar and different in design and purpose to a data warehouse. It is similar in that it is subject-oriented and integrated from the various systems and sources that feed it. However, it is unique in that the data is volatile and updated on a relatively regular basis, it holds little to no archival data, and the data is kept at a detailed level with little summarization. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of an ODS and the data that it holds, as well as to describe the author’s participation in a corporate project to build an ODS used to process and score customer information for a direct marketing application. This application gathers customer information from point-of-sale transactions and online orders. The author’s role on the project was to develop, test, and implement solutions concerning database performance, as well to provide database analysis and support throughout the project lifecycle. This thesis will provide an overview of the system’s functionality and the individual contributions the author made to the overall solution.