FROM DATA TO KNOWLEDGE: HOW INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY TOOLS CAN HELP - Cyberwar-Netwar: Security in the Information Age - page 118

information from data sources to users and is common to the majority of BI
implementations.

BI: INFORMATION FLOW

Data
sources

StagingArea

DATA CLEANSING

ETL

Data Warehouse

Pre-aggregation

Data
Mart

Data
Mart

OLAP Query&Reporting,

Figure 1. Information flow

In a BI process, data from sources is loaded temporarily into the staging area without
transformation except for a decoupling between the transactional environment (OLTP)
and the warehouse. The extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) tools provide for
the loading of data in the warehouse in accordance with the stated rules of transformation
and by a careful cleansing of data of all inconsistencies and errors. The screen depicted
in Figure 1. indicates that data entering the warehouse is validated and certified as
accurate and error-free.
It should be noted that the accuracy of data in the warehouse is a key factor for trusting
information provided to the user after the multidimensional analysis; no corruption from
the transactional world must be allowed (security requirement).
Due to the process of transformation, cleansing, refinement and aggregation, the value
of information is increased to the level of knowledge required (Figure 2.).