Database Management

Typically, when most people think about data warehouse security, they think about restricted access to information through the use of passwords. In fact, there are very many legitimate reasons to use this type of security to protect the data warehouse. However, there are other things you have to consider as well. In this article, we will outline some of the main data warehouse security approaches.

If you're going to use data warehouse security effectively, you first have to understand exactly what you plan to use your data warehouse for, and what its purpose is.

For example, let's consider what some data warehouse systems are used for. In analytical data warehouses, only a handful of people within the company will be able to understand, and use the information effectively, when analyzing it in the data warehouse. This is the case 20% of the time. The fact of the matter is that when so few people can actually do anything with the data, it does not make sense to enforce any high-tech security or restrictive measures at all.

However, in the other 80% of cases, data warehouses will be used for standardized reporting. This is where information will be disseminated and spread throughout the whole organization. Different people within that organization will then have access to all the information the organization has tracked with its technology. In this case, some of the information may be sensitive, and should not be viewed by everyone who has access to the network.

Where data warehouse security starts to get complex is when you take different databases and systems and integrate them into one source where the coding is not flexible in its functionality. For example, when you take into account the information relating to inventory, and you combine it into a system with information of a financial nature, naturally each will have had its own security plan.

If you're going to have any chance of actually enjoying any data warehouse security and remaining efficient, you have to create one entire security plan for the whole system.

There are two main places where you can place the security at. The first place is within the application itself. Here, you can specify which data is accessed by the application, as well as certain functions of the application itself.

Or, you can place security within the data warehouse. Now all applications within the data warehouse will be controlled from a single point. This is beneficial when you are dealing with many users who are going to access information in the warehouse, when there are many applications accessing the warehouse and were multiple hierarchies exist in the same dimension.

In conclusion, I have given you some basic information about data warehouse security.

Database Management |