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The Real Time Database Complex

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May 26 2009

Delivering data in "real time" is becoming an increasingly important design requirement for database architects.  However, building a true real time database (where data is available the instant it is created or updated) is a complex design challenge when the database is not the system of record.  Even if the database is indeed the system of record, the complexity of user queries often requires additional aggregation in order to be optimized for reporting, campaigning, analytics, etc.

Data within application databases typically goes through an ETL (extract, transformation and load) process.  The ETL process includes several steps such as data cleansing and hygiene, matching, transaction processing, aggregation and auditing. This process takes time, whether it is two hours or two minutes, and therefore challenges the definition of real time.   So what is a database architect to do?

The design tip below from Kimball University (part of the Kimball Group - a leading authority among data warehousing practices and techniques) on the "Real Time Triage" explains their recommended approach when collecting real time data requirements.  The article explains a three tier process where data requirements are broken into the following categories: Instantaneous, Frequently, and Daily.  Each category is explained in depth along with the benefits and tradeoffs.

http://www.kimballgroup.com/html/07dt/KU89TheRealTimeTriage.pdf

 

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