Considering how fast-paced the business culture is today, maybe particularly for retail companies, data is vital. Since data drives corporate decision-making, retail organizations plan and monitor performance to stay on course with their customers, vendors, staffing, store locations, and so on – and data warehousing can deliver the exact solution to support your Business Intelligence (BI) analytics.

1. Data Warehousing for Retail with Microsoft Dynamics AX
By Filius Bonacci
Consideringhowfast-pacedthe businessculture istoday,maybe particularlyforretail companies,data
isvital. Since data drivescorporate decision-making,retail organizationsplanandmonitorperformance
to stay oncourse withtheircustomers,vendors,staffing,store locations,andsoon – anddata
warehousingcandeliverthe exactsolutiontosupportyourBusinessIntelligence (BI) analytics. Aswith
any software thatisnewto you,youlikely have plentyof questions,andFiliusBonacci hasanswers. In
thisarticle,we’ll answerthe mostfrequentquestionsregardingcommercial datawarehouse solutions
that youcan use withMicrosoftDynamicsAXforyour retail corporation.
Definingthe solution. It mightbe bestto betterunderstandthe conceptof adata warehouse first:a
multi-dimensional database. Toelaborate,adatawarehouse couldalsobe explainedasavirtual storage
space or a server-stageddatabase,eitheronitsownserveror a sharedone. As a pointof comparison,
an external harddrive offersyouaphysical space tostore diverse typesof filesandprogramswhile
today’sdata warehousesprovide youadigital place tohouse multiple operational andtransactional
data types. Inaddition,if youwantto visualize thisconcept,thinkaboutthree-dimensionalzinganExcel
spreadsheetandorganizingyourtransactional andoperationaldatainaggregated,streamlined,and
effectiveways,whichispreciselythe purpose of adata warehouse,eliminating errorswithbusinessuser
friendlytechnology. Today’scommercial datawarehouse solutionsare managedwithatechnical
database managementprogram,like MicrosoftSQLServerVisualStudio,orsomethinglikethe BI360
Data Warehouse Manager,a solution-specifictool forSolver’sdatawarehouse thatiseasytouse and
positionedwithinthe BI360 Suite.
Implementingthe warehouse. Regardinginstallationandautomation,a commercial datawarehouse
usuallycomes“outof the box,”whichsimplymeansaneasyimplementation. You’ll nexthave to
replicate yourcompanyinformationfromDynamicsAXandanyother data sourcesyouwantto include.
A consultantwho hasexpertise inextraction,transformation,andloading(ETL) of yourdata will install
your warehouse. The consultantwill thenautomatethe ETLprocessfrom yourdatabase(s).Filius
Bonacci’srecommendationistogowitha data warehouse thathasa pre-configured,built-inintegration
to the DynamicsAXCloudor on-site installationif youwanttohave a seamlesssolution. Next,a
consultantwhospecializesinsimplifyingandexpeditingyourBIanalyticswill educate yourteamtopull
data fromthe warehouse forfinancialstatements,budgets,anddashboardsyoudependontomake
informeddecisionsaboutyourretail company’splansfor the future. Afteryourdatawarehouse isset
up and yourstaff istrained,businessendusersatall levelsof the organizationcanuse the solution
withoutinvolvingthe ITteam.
To continue learningmore about data warehouse solutionsfor retail companiesusingMicrosoft
Dynamics AX, read the rest of thisarticle here.