Date of Award

Spring 4-1-2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS)

First Advisor

Stephen Krebsbach

Second Advisor

Wayne Pauli

Third Advisor

Mark Moran

Abstract

This paper is about the process of designing and creating a data repository/warehouse of student elements from a transactional student database. The original data exists in an lnformix database that has millions of records within the data structures. The ability to extract data and report on necessary elements from the transactional database is a tedious and ominous task that can sometimes take lengthy amounts of time to obtain necessary information for key analysis. The need to simplify the records and make the information available on a timely basis to users throughout the college is the main goal. By deciding to use a MYSQL database for the data repository/warehouse the system can easily be moved to any type of platform with minimal cost. By extracting and placing the data in another database it is now possible to run reports against data without affecting response times on the transactional system. One of the key elements of extraction and loading of data was to use the HPUX platform for all phases. This allows the scripts to be automated within one system and has the ability to run efficiently. By experimenting with different data layouts and indexes the load times were drastically reduced with minimal effort. It is important to note that making sure that all of the data is clean before loading it into the new system or the reporting elements are useless to the college. This is a project that appears to have actually just gotten off the ground and will have months if not years of further development. Getting started on a simple portion of what may prove to be an extremely large process proved to be the key to success. There is no doubt that the spiral methodology was the correct option to use during this project.

Comments

dsu-th-191

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