Factors That Affect the Successful Implementation of a Data Warehouse

The growth of the Internet and the expansion of global markets have transformed the economies of industrial societies. Services provided by these economies are based on knowledge and information management, implying a changing role for information systems. Information systems provide companies with the communication and the analytical tools to manage business on a global scale. They are the backbone for the new products and services that are provided by economies that are knowledge based. Information systems permit businesses to adopt more flexible and decentralized structures. Corporate organizations have implemented data warehouse projects to improve their ability to assess, understand and analyze their business operations. A data warehouse recovers data from multiple operational or transactional systems; data is integrated and stored, allowing the creation of a new product (information). This study builds on previous research that will help to identify the important elements that permit a better understanding of data warehouse implementation. The research will also discuss previous data warehouse models that were successfully implemented and determine their application in a Puerto Rican corporation. This research empirically confirms that organizational and operational factors affect the successful implementation of a Data Warehouse. It concludes that the high level of correlation between the success factors of the implementation and the success factors of the system does not exist according to the criteria established by Hinkle.