Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031 – 1043

www.elsevier.com/locate/dss

Integrated decision support systems:

A data warehousing perspective
Salvatore T. March a,*, Alan R. Hevner b
a
Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, 401 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203, United States
b
College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, United States
Available online 20 July 2005

Abstract

Successfully supporting managerial decision-making is critically dependent upon the availability of integrated, high quality
information organized and presented in a timely and easily understood manner. Data warehouses have emerged to meet this
need. They serve as an integrated repository for internal and external data—intelligence critical to understanding and evaluating
the business within its environmental context. With the addition of models, analytic tools, and user interfaces, they have the
potential to provide actionable information resources—business intelligence that supports effective problem and opportunity
identification, critical decision-making, and strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. Four themes frame our
analysis: integration, implementation, intelligence, and innovation.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Data warehouse; Data warehousing architecture; Integrated decision support; Intelligence; Business intelligence

1. Introduction needed to effectively manage the organization [44].

Conceptually the idea of a data warehouse is ex-
tremely simple. As popularized by Inmon [12] and
Inmon and Hackathorn [13] a data warehouse is a
bsubject-oriented, integrated, time-invariant, non-up-
datable collection of data used to support management
decision-making processes and business intelligence.Q
A data warehouse is a repository into which are placed
all data relevant to the management of an organization
and from which emerge the information and knowledge
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: salvatore.t.march@Vanderbilt.Edu
(S.T. March).
0167-9236/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.dss.2005.05.029
While this is clearly a simplistic and idealistic view it
allows us to begin the investigation of the foundations,
key challenges, and research directions for this disci-
pline. Importantly it highlights the purpose of a data
warehouse: support for all levels of management deci-
sion-making processes through the acquisition, integra-
tion, transformation, and interpretation of internal and
external data [25].
To begin, it is important to differentiate a data
warehouse, the repository for integrated data, from
data warehousing, the development, management, op-
erational methods, and practices that define how these
data are collected, integrated, interpreted, managed,
and used. It is similarly important to distinguish in-
1032 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
telligence from business intelligence. We use the term
intelligence in its general sense of information—in-
formation acquired to aid the purposeful execution of
business processes. We use the term business intelli-
gence to refer to inferences and knowledge discovered
by applying algorithmic analysis to acquired informa-
tion. A data warehouse is a repository of intelligence
from which business intelligence can be derived.
The goal of this presentation is to provide both
researchers and practitioners a clear view of the chal-
lenges and opportunities of applying data warehous-
ing technology to support all levels of management
decision-making. We begin by reviewing information
requirements for decision support via a general sys-
tems theory of management. From this foundation,
sets of data warehousing functions are identified and
organized into a layered data warehousing architec-
ture. Research areas are highlighted as we discuss the
design and implementation of these functions within
each of the layers. Four overarching themes frame our
analysis: integration, implementation, intelligence,
and innovation.
Much of the recent literature on data warehousing
has focused on operational concerns. There are a
number of commercial tools and industry success
stories describing this level of data warehousing
(e.g., [4,23,44]). To effectively meet the emerging
needs of modern organizations research in data ware-
housing must move beyond these operational and
System Environment
Standards
Manage
Resources
from the
Environment
Input Production
Fig. 1. A general systems theory view of a business.
even tactical level decisions. It must address support
for business strategy formulation and evaluation [17].
Despite the early research on critical success factors
(CSF) and executive information systems (EIS) (e.g.,
[3,24,31,33,42]) and the more recent work on elec-
tronic dashboards and balanced scorecards (e.g.,
[1,16,19,21]), the links between data warehousing
and strategic decision-making and evaluation remain
under-researched. To fully explore the opportunities
for research in this area, we begin our presentation
with an overview of management, strategy, and the
role of information in management processes.
2. Information requirements for management
decision support
General Systems Theory (GST) provides a lens
through which business organizations can be under-
stood [5,7,34]. Fig. 1 illustrates a systems view of
how a business operates. Every system has a purpose
or goal that drives the strategy behind its design and
organization. Economists describe a business as a
production system that adds value to the environment.
The overall goal of the business is to maximize its
long term value [26]. It does so by transforming
lower-valued resources acquired from the environ-
ment into higher-valued goods and services distribut-
ed back to the environment. The general functions of
Information
Processor
Goods and
Services to the
Environment
Output
Workflow
Decision Flow
Data and Information Flow
 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
management are to: strategize, organize, lead, acquire
and allocate resources, and monitor business activities
to assure that the difference between the value of the
outputs and the value of the inputs is maximized [20].
Every business has input, production, and output
processes that define its workflow [6,41]. The input
processes acquire resources from the environment.
Resources acquired from the environment include
capital, labor, raw materials and other goods and
services from vendors and other partners, as well as
technology and environmental information. It is cru-
cial that organizations systematically acquire the en-
vironmental information needed to make decisions
and to evaluate the effects of those decisions. At a
minimum this environmental information must in-
clude customer and market product preferences, ven-
dor and partner capabilities, best practice production
methodologies, and competitive analyses. Capital,
labor, and raw materials are transformed by produc-
tion processes into products that are distributed and
serviced via the output processes [27,29]. Environ-
mental information is combined with internal data by
the information processor and transformed into infor-
mation by which management can create strategies,
develop standards (goals against which to measure
organizational performance), make decisions, design
business processes, and evaluate business perfor-
mance with respect to the established standards.
Profit maximization, the general economic goal of
a business, does not occur spontaneously. Strategies
must be developed and processes must be designed
and managed [6,28] that enable the organization to
effectively utilize its core capabilities and gain a
competitive advantage. Decisions must be made that
define the way in which each business process is
performed and how each is evaluated. Measurable
standards must be created against which the perfor-
mance of each process can be compared. Data must be
gathered from each process, combined with environ-
mental information, and transformed into useful in-
formation for executive decision-making [46] and
business evaluation [1,16]. Problems and opportuni-
ties can be viewed as deviations from established
standards [36]. The role of the information processor
is to integrate and interpret this data and transform it
appropriately for management use. Hence, manage-
ment decisions affect business workflow processes,
standards, and the information processor. Data must
1033
be gathered, transformed into information, and com-
pared to standards, thus enabling their evaluation and
completing the management cycle.
A key question for business organizations is the role
of information technology in each of these processes.
Advances in information technology have redefined
how organizations perform these processes and have
enabled them to significantly reduce cost or improve
performance through automation. Significant examples
include computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-
integrated manufacturing (CIM); the automated acqui-
sition and processing of customer orders through elec-
tronic data interchange (EDI) systems; electronic
marketplaces and Web services; and automated cus-
tomer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Within this context decision support systems (DSS)
focus on the process labeled Manage and data ware-
houses focus on the process labeled Information Pro-
cessor. Information technology can play a significant
role in each of these processes; however, there are
major challenges that must be addressed. Drucker [9]
describes the types of information that executives
need and outlines the shortcomings of existing man-
agement philosophies and IT applications to acquire
and use these data effectively. He differentiates inter-
nal information, useful for tactical level decision-mak-
ing and evaluation, from external information, useful
for strategic decision-making and evaluation. Each is
discussed briefly below.
Drucker refers to internal information as bfour sets
of diagnostic toolsQ that enable executives bto make
informed judgmentsQ needed bto manage the business
for wealth creationQ ([9], p. 58). The four sets of tools
are: foundational information, productivity informa-
tion, competence information, and resource-allocation
information.
Foundational information includes traditional ac-
counting and financial measurements such as cash-
flow and liquidity projections and ratios. While it is
extremely common for a high-level executive to have
access to such information in aggregate, it is much
less common for operational level managers to predict
and assess the impact of their decisions on these
measures. As distributed decision-making has become
more common it has become more important for this
type of information to be available to these managers.
At the same time it has become more important for
their incentive structures to be aligned more closely
1034 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
with the impact of their decisions on the overall per-
formance of the organization. A sales manager may,
for example, decide to give a price discount in order to
obtain a large sales order. The impact on gross sales is
obviously positive. However, the impact on profit
may be positive or negative depending on a number
of factors such as the ability of the customer to pay in
a timely manner, production capacity, inventory
levels, existing or projected sales orders from other
customers, competition, etc. These data must be cap-
tured and integrated into the data warehouse, trans-
formed into an appropriate form for the sales manager
and for the manager of the sales manager to use
effectively, and the data must be positioned in the
appropriate timeframe.
Productivity information describes the effective-
ness and efficiency of organizational production pro-
cesses [46] including knowledge-based and service-
based processes and the opportunity costs associated
with management decisions. Drucker suggests eco-
nomic value-added analysis (EVA) and benchmarking
as appropriate mechanisms for measuring productivity
performance [9]. These require obtaining external,
often industry-based, data and interpreting it within
the context of the organization to infer the impact of
business decisions. Integrating such data and the
resulting inferences with existing operational data
and strategies as they evolve over time is both a
significant challenge and a major opportunity for the
data warehousing research community.
Competence information describes the core com-
petencies that enable a business to succeed [30]. These
are unique abilities that differentiate a business from
its competitors and form the basis from which com-
petitive advantage can be gained. Identifying, devel-
oping, and measuring core competencies are crucial
and challenging management tasks. Drucker suggests
that doing so requires an organization to carefully
track business successes and failures, particularly
unexpected successes and failures, and to gather in-
formation (intelligence) required to understand the
causes for each. He further argues that innovation is
a core competency that all business organizations
need to develop. These are areas in which data ware-
housing technology has not been widely applied but
has potential for adding significant value to a busi-
ness [9]. Research is needed to address the determi-
nation, acquisition, integration, and application of
information enabling the identification and use of
core competencies. Decision-making at all levels of
management must focus on leveraging such organi-
zational competencies to gain competitive advantage.
Adding to the research challenge is that much of this
information is unstructured or at best semi-structured.
Resource-allocation information deals with the ef-
fective and efficient use of scarce organizational
resources. Drucker focuses on capital and human
resources recognizing that all decisions require a man-
ager to evaluate the alternatives to which those re-
sources may be applied and to assess the implications
of the success or failure of the selected resource allo-
cation. This implies that objectives (standards) must be
developed against which the performance of that allo-
cation can be measured. Similarly it implies that ap-
propriate data must be gathered to enable such an
evaluation. Clearly these issues present challenges for
the data warehouse as capital investments are made and
as human resource allocations change over time.
The final type of information Drucker identifies as
necessary for wealth creation is environmental infor-
mation—binformation about markets, customers, and
non-customers; about technology in one’s own indus-
try and others; about world-wide finance; and about
the changing world economyQ ([9], p. 61).
A serious cause of business failure is the common
assumption that conditions–taxes, social legislation,
market preferences, distribution channels, intellectual
property rights, and many others–must be what we
think they are or what we think they should be. An
adequate information system has to include informa-
tion that makes executives question that assumption.
It must lead them to ask the right questions, not just
feed them the information they expect. That presup-
poses first that executives know what information
they need. It demands further that they obtain that
information on a regular basis. It finally requires that
they systematically integrate the information into their
decision-making.
The wide range of critical information requirements
for business decision-making and their diverse sources,
both internal and external to the organization, present a
clear challenge to the development of data warehouses
and the decision support systems that utilize them
[45]. Wetherbe recognizes that executive information
requirements are different from operational require-
ments and chides IS professionals for their lack of
 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
adequate methodology to determine executive infor-
mation needs. Simply capturing terabytes of transac-
tion data and loading it into a data warehouse–a
common data warehouse development method–is sim-
ply not sufficient. He proposes a methodology that
addresses what he claims are four fundamental mis-
takes that developers typically make when attempting
to determine executive information needs. bThese mis-
takes are viewing systems as functional instead of
cross-functional, interviewing managers individually
instead of jointly, asking the wrong questions during
the interview, and not allowing trial-and-error in the
detail design processQ ([46], p. 53).
Recognizing the cross-functional and more recent
cross-organizational nature of executive information
requirements demands significant integration efforts
and presents organizational as well as technical chal-
lenges. Disciplined approaches, such as Joint Appli-
cation Design (JAD), to bring stakeholders together
can be used to deal with this challenge. But more
telling are the questions and content discussed at such
joint meetings. Wetherbe contends that simply asking,
bWhat information do you want?Q is counter-produc-
tive. Questions must address problems, solutions,
decisions, critical success factors, ends (goals, perfor-
mance measures), and means (alternatives). Not un-
like the information needs discussed above, these
questions cause managers to focus on business per-
formance, how to measure and evaluate business suc-
cess, and how to improve business effectiveness. Data
warehousing becomes an enabling technology.
Summarizing the above discussion, a key role of
the data warehouse is to provide compelling business
intelligence to the decision-maker facilitating an un-
derstanding of business problems, opportunities, and
performance. It must incorporate internal and external
knowledge acquired over time and adapt it to current
business conditions. Turning to the psychology liter-
ature, one approach to this task is to provide a facility
for developing events, critical incidents, and excep-
tions into a narrative or bstoryQ that taps into the
human sense-making capability [11,32,40]. How to
develop data warehouses that convey such a story to
managers is a fundamental research challenge.
In his classic article on the development of deci-
sion support systems, Sprague differentiates three
DSS subsystems, the data subsystem, the model
subsystem, and the user interface subsystem [37].
1035
The data subsystem corresponds to the data ware-
house and the model subsystem corresponds to an-
alytic (e.g., Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)),
knowledge discovery, and data mining tools [14]
each having an interface subsystem enabling them
to communicate with the decision-maker. He argues
that a DSS should support all phases of the man-
agement decision-making process citing Simon’s in-
telligence-design-choice model as an exemplar [35].
Specifically, intelligence refers to the process of
searching the environment for conditions calling
for decisions. Design refers to the process of invent-
ing, developing, and analyzing possible courses of
action. Choice refers to the process of selecting a
particular course of action from those available.
Implementation and evaluation processes typically
follow choice [10].
The intelligence phase is of specific significance to
data warehouse development. Webster’s dictionary
defines intelligence as b(n.) inborn quickness of un-
derstanding and adaptability to relatively new situa-
tions; information.Q Webster’s Revised Unabridged
Dictionary adds, bthe ability to comprehend; to un-
derstand and profit from experience.Q We argue that
understanding, adaptability, and profiting from expe-
rience are three important components of intelligence
that need to be designed into data warehouses. Data
warehouses must be understandable, adaptable, and
include experience-based organizational knowledge.
They must provide information that enables managers
to identify situations requiring action and to under-
stand the situation and its causes. They must enable a
manager to locate and apply relevant organizational
(experience-based) knowledge and to predict and
measure the impact of a decision over time. These
are significant challenges for the data warehousing
research community.
3. Data warehousing architecture
With an understanding of the business information
to be captured and integrated, we now turn our
attention to the challenges of implementing an effec-
tive data warehouse. Without entering the debate
about the merits of the top-down bcorporate informa-
tion factoryQ [12] versus the bottom-up bbusiness data
mart architectureQ [18] approaches to developing a
1036 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043

data warehouse, we present a layered architecture for 3.1. Content management

understanding the functionality required to success-
fully implement data warehousing technology, inde-
pendent of the manner in which the data warehouse is
developed. Fig. 2 illustrates our data warehousing
layered architecture.
In a layered architecture, each layer is dependent
on the services in lower layers. However, each higher
layer is independent of the design decisions made in
the lower layers. The kernel Content Management
layer addresses data capture, instance-level data inte-
gration, and data quality, particularly consistency and
timeliness. It defines what data are available in the
data warehouse. The Integration and Design layer
addresses warehouse design and metadata manage-
ment. It includes semantic and conceptual level inte-
gration, logical and physical design, and performance
issues. The Use layer addresses information dissemi-
nation including the application of analytical, knowl-
edge discovery, and data mining tools, privacy and
security, and user training and support. The Evolution
layer addresses change management concerns as the
data warehouse responds to changing business needs.
The following sections discuss the responsibilities and
research challenges found in the four data warehouse
architecture layers.
Managing the content of a data warehouse is a
daunting task. Locating and acquiring the data needed
to produce the types of information described above
are significant challenges. Integrating the acquired
information may be even more challenging. Modern
organizations use a wide variety of distributed infor-
mation systems to conduct their day-to-day business.
These operational systems draw data from a variety of
databases that operate on different hardware plat-
forms, use different operating systems and DBMSs,
and have different database structures with varying
structural, conceptual, and instance level semantics.
Existing practice successfully addresses many of
the hardware, operating system, DBMS, and structur-
al heterogeneities associated with such systems. How-
ever, major challenges remain for data warehouse
content management. These include identifying and
accessing the appropriate data sources, coordinating
data capture from them in an appropriate timeframe,
assuring adequate data quality, and integrating in-
stance level data.
A data warehouse serves as a repository for data
extracted from diverse operational information sys-
tems and acquired from external sources. The extract,

Evolution Organizational
Decision
Maker

Use

Information and
Knowledge ˚
Integration and
Design
˚
˚
Content
Management Organizational
Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) Information and
Decision
Data into the Data Warehouse Knowledge
Maker

Operational Data Sources

(Internal and External) Information and
Knowledge

Strategic
Supply Chain
Partners

Fig. 2. Data warehousing layered architecture.

 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
transform, and load (ETL) functions in a data ware-
house are considered the most time-consuming and
expensive portion of the development lifecycle [38].
These processes are concerned with the extraction of
data from legacy systems and external sources, the
transformation and pre-processing necessary to pro-
duce useful, integrated data, and the transportation of
the data into the actual data warehouse structures.
Often operational systems are not designed to be
integrated and data extracts must be performed man-
ually or on a schedule determined by the operational
systems. Furthermore acquired data from external
sources is rarely in a form conducive to integration.
As a result even data extracted from internal sys-
tems may not be consistently represented in the data
warehouse. Data extracted from an inventory system,
for example, may not be synchronized with data
extracted from order processing or purchasing sys-
tems or specialized systems handling binternal trans-
fers.Q Reports produced from the data warehouse may
be inconsistent and unusable, particularly for real-time
decision-making situations. Coordination mechanisms
must be established. However, the pace of business,
particularly Web-based applications, may demand op-
erational systems be available b24  7Q making extracts
and synchronization major problems.
Data quality is a major concern for many opera-
tional systems as well as for data warehouses [15,43].
Validation of accuracy, timeliness, completeness, and
consistency remain major problems for many organi-
zations even in internal information systems where
users are trained and managed by the organization.
These problems are multiplied in information systems
that are exposed to customers, vendors, and other
partners. The result can be a disaster for a data ware-
house that depends on such systems for its content.
Mechanisms for protecting a data warehouse from
poor quality data are crucial. At the same time reject-
ing data from an operational system due to quality
concerns can exacerbate the data synchronization pro-
blems discussed above, particularly when the organi-
zation is using the data warehouse to integrate diverse
information systems. Methods for monitoring and
cleansing data during ETL have been shown to be
successful [2]; however, more attention to data quality
issues in data warehouses is needed.
Instance level data integration has been studied
extensively in the context of heterogeneous databases;
1037
however, its solution remains elusive. Organizations
routinely have multiple entries in operational data-
bases for the same entity in the world. Reasons for
this are varied, including data entry errors or limita-
tions of existing software (e.g., disallowing multiple
locations for a single customer may cause the organi-
zation to maintain a customer record for each loca-
tion). While this problem is prevalent in internal
information systems, the emergence of inter-organiza-
tional and Web-based systems and the trend toward
mergers and acquisitions magnify its importance.
Content management consists of the fundamental
and time-consuming activities essential to the devel-
opment of an effective data warehouse. Attention to
detail at this kernel layer provides a basis for the
confident use of designer and user functions at sub-
sequent data warehouse layers.
3.2. Integration and design
Given that the data from varied sources have been
loaded into the data warehouse, the next set of chal-
lenges is the determination, representation, and con-
ceptual integration of the data that are relevant to the
managerial decision-making in an organization. Meth-
odologies for these tasks are in their infancy. Current
data and dimensional modeling (e.g., star schemas)
approaches for data warehouses [18] focus almost
exclusively on data extracted from current or pro-
posed operations.
Certainly it is valuable to identify dimensions
along which managers can bslice, dice, roll-up, and
drill-downQ on facts acquired from operational sys-
tems. However, such an analysis fails to provide an
adequate foundation for management decision-mak-
ing or strategy formulation and evaluation [28]. Me-
thodologies are needed that focus on the intelligence
phase of decision-making in which managers scan
the environment for problems and opportunities [35].
These cannot be limited to the operational level of
an organization nor can they be limited to activities
that are internal to the business. They must include
strategy and goals both within the organization and
within its competitive environment. They must trace
strategy to tactical plans and operational implemen-
tation defining key performance indicators at each
level. They must be integrative yet flexible, identi-
fying and reconciling heterogeneities among data
1038 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
definitions and concepts used in all levels of man-
agement concern.
Furthermore, semantic heterogeneities and in-
stance level integration continue to pose enormous
challenges. Briefly stated, a semantic heterogeneity
exists when data is defined differently by different
users. Differences can be as simple as naming con-
ventions or units of measures which can be easily
addressed using conversion tables. Frequently they
are much more complex involving different criteria
for capturing data and different meanings ascribed to
captured data. For example, the use of varied and
incompatible geographical units (e.g., zip codes, cen-
sus tracks, political boundaries—townships, counties,
states, nations) to group data creates major problems
when that data must be compared and integrated.
Such differences must be resolved if data from in-
compatible systems are to be stored in a common
data warehouse. The challenge is to integrate data
from diverse information systems in the face of
organizational or economic constraints that require
those systems to remain autonomous, i.e., retain their
differences. Important research challenges that must
be addressed include: schema integration, schema
evolution, and query processing in such a heteroge-
neous environment [22].
Clearly the data warehouse must go beyond its
current role as a repository of historical data describ-
ing the operations and transactions in which the orga-
nization has engaged. It must include data describing
partners and partnerships, policies and rules of the
business, competitors and markets, goals and stan-
dards, opportunities and problems, successes and fail-
ures, and alternatives and predicted futures. Such data
are often unstructured or semi-structured. Methodolo-
gies and representational formalisms for this level of
analysis are sorely lacking.
3.3. Use
Organizations use data warehousing to support
strategic and mission-critical applications. Data de-
posited into the data warehouse must be transformed
into information and knowledge and appropriately
disseminated to decision-makers within the organiza-
tion and to critical partners in various capacities
within the organizational value chain. Crucial pro-
blems that must be addressed in this area are: the
modes of dissemination of information to the end
user; the development, selection, and implementation
of appropriate models, analytic tools, and data min-
ing tools; the privacy and security of data; system
performance; and adequate levels of training and
support.
The human–computer interface is of paramount
importance in the data warehouse environment and
the primary determinant of success from the end-user
perspective. In order to support analysis and reporting
tasks, the data warehouse must have high quality data
and make these data accessible through intuitive in-
terface technologies. Data warehouse browsing tools
provide star-schema query-like access through a flex-
ible menu-based interface, with pull-down menus
representing important dimensions. These types of
tools are easy to use and support some ad-hoc explo-
ration, but are usually controlled through an adminis-
trative layer that determines the data available to end-
users. In developing a flexible interface, there is a
tradeoff between the ability to express ad-hoc queries
and the ease-of-use that results from pre-defined con-
structs implemented by data warehouse designers and
administrators. Of course, SQL can provide an ad-hoc
query facility, but its use requires some care in the
data warehouse environment where the combination
of very large tables and ill-formed user queries can
produce some truly awful performance and potentially
erroneous results. Casual users may not have suffi-
cient understanding of SQL or of the database schema
to effectively use such an interface. Typically, only
trained power users (e.g., DBAs, application devel-
opers) are permitted to write SQL queries on a data
warehouse.
There are a number of commercially available ana-
lytic tools and data mining tools applied in data ware-
housing. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools
support multidimensional views of the data warehouse.
OLAP bcubesQ are frequently extracted from the data
warehouse and made available to managers for specific
decision-making situations. Using tools such as ORA-
CLE Discoverer, Cognos PowerPlay, MicroStrategy,
Business Objects, or even pivot tables in Excel spread-
sheets managers can bslice, dice, drill-down, and roll-
upQ instance-level data along pre-defined dimensions.
These can be extremely useful for identifying and
exploring the causes of problem situations. For exam-
ple, drilling down on sales for a specific product that
 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
has not met its sales goals can help a manager identify
which customers or regions are underperforming with
respect to that product. However, they are not very
effective for generating solution alternatives once the
problem is identified nor are they effective in
bdiscoveringQ relationships within the data that can be
used for strategy formulation or implementation.
Data mining and other bknowledge discovery in
databaseQ (KDD) tools, on the other hand, are specif-
ically designed to identify relationships and brulesQ
within the data warehouse [14]. Unfortunately the
identified relationships and rules may or may not be
useful to management. Often such tools require users
to specify the type of relationship or rule sought. For
example, a data mining tool could be used to identify
products that are frequently purchased at the same
time or products whose purchase is dependent on
other previously purchased products. Enabling man-
agers and power users to indiscriminately search the
data warehouse looking for relationships or rules can
raise serious privacy and security concerns, particu-
larly when using Web-based tools.
Analytic tools and data mining tools have become
quite powerful; however, they may be too complex and
sophisticated for the average information consumer.
Managers who are comfortable with paper-based
reports may find the transition to data warehouse
tools to be uncomfortable and counterproductive.
Keys to effective data warehouse use are identifying
the right tools for the different types of data warehouse
users and providing adequate training and support once
those tools have been selected. For a manager whose
primary concern is monitoring sales levels over time by
product and sales region a simple Excel spreadsheet
automatically connected to an OLAP cube may be
sufficient. For a manager attempting to identify new
marketing strategies and pricing schemes more sophis-
ticated tools are required.
Furthermore, the value of the available tools is
dependent upon matching the data characteristics to
the managerial need. Early data warehouse applica-
tions assumed that currency was not a required char-
acteristic for managerial decision-making. Hence data
warehouses were often brefreshedQ from operational
databases on a weekly or monthly basis. Given the
accelerated pace of business, bactiveQ or bflashQ data
warehouses are becoming more prevalent. Such data
warehouses are updated virtually in parallel with op-
1039
erational databases. This can lead to integrity and
consistency problems because data are in a constant
state of flux. Analytical results can vary literally from
one moment to another.
The trend toward real-time data warehousing for
both tactical and strategic decision-making has led to
interest in the concept of Business Activity Monitor-
ing (BAM) [39]. When faced with a critical business
decision, the manager must quickly assemble and
analyze the situation with full views of both the
organizational internal and external contexts. This
requires access to current as well as historical infor-
mation on objectives, past performance, external
forces, internal resources, potential events, and time-
related issues. The manager will also need to be able
to communicate and coordinate with others within and
outside the organization. Finally, a decision will be
made to take action or to delegate the decision-making
authority. Fully deployed BAM systems assume that
these capabilities are available to managers through-
out the business organization.
In reality, tactical decision support systems and
BAM solutions will require innovative research and
development before they reach an adequate level of
maturity for widespread deployment. Research issues
pertinent to real-time data warehousing include inte-
gration of operational information with historical in-
formation, handling events and alerts as real-time
data, scalability to growing numbers of users, real-
time performance of analytic engines, and building
active applets and alert mechanisms into user inter-
faces (e.g., electronic dashboards) [8]. The role of an
effective data warehouse is central to the future of
real-time tactical and strategic decision-making.
3.4. Evolution
The key challenge in this layer is that the data
warehouse must be bdesigned for changeQ from the
beginning. As business organizations evolve, their in-
formation systems and their data warehouses must
evolve with them. New data definitions, new instances,
and new tools must be accommodated. Version control
becomes crucial. Depending on the data warehouse
definition even simple analyses can become problem-
atic in the face of evolving business characteristics.
How, for example, can management interpret historical
sales comparisons if sales districts are reorganized or
1040 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043

Table 1 4. Data warehouse themes in decision support

Research challenges in data warehousing for integrated decision
support
Architecture layer Research challenges
Content management Data selection
Data capture
Extraction, transformation,
and loading (ETL)
Instance-level data integration
Data quality
Integration and design Conceptual data integration
from heterogenous systems
Data warehouse schema design
Meta-model management
Business intelligence scanning
Supply chain integration
Use Data dissemination modes
Analytical models and tools
Data mining models and tools
End-user training and support
Real-time updating of active
data warehouses
Real-time tactical and strategic
decision-making
Business activity monitoring
Evolution Design for change
Change management and version control
customers are transferred from one salesperson to an-
other? How are historical product sales to be analyzed
when, due to a merger or acquisition, product lines
have been redefined? There is very little theory or
guidance available for data warehouse managers to
make decisions on how to deal with such changes.
Change management in data warehouses is an area
ripe for research.
3.5. Data warehouse research challenges
Throughout this paper, as we have studied the ef-
fective use of data warehouses for managerial decision-
making, four overarching objectives have emerged.
They are integration, implementation, intelligence,
and innovation. As concluding remarks, we briefly
expand on the importance of each of these themes to
the successful use of decision support systems in busi-
ness organizations. Fig. 3 guides the discussion.
4.1. Integration
The essence of the data warehousing concept is the
integration of data from disparate sources into one
coherent repository of information. Achieving a sat-
isfactory level of integration across both internal and
external data is the first and, perhaps, the foremost
challenge facing a data warehouse designer. Integra-
tion is also at the heart of decision-making tools
supported by a data warehouse. The ability to draw
business intelligence from the data warehouse to make
tactical or strategic decisions is dependent upon a full
integration of all raw data, current and historical, that
may have impact upon that decision. The inability to
integrate a critical data source may mean that a deci-
Operational Databases
Integration Internal Information
External Information
Data Warehouses
Implementation Model Management
Analytic Tools
User Interfaces

In this discussion we have presented a layered

Management
architecture of data warehousing foundations. Each Decision Support and
Intelligence
of the four layers–Content Management, Integration Data Mining Tools
and Design, Use, and Evolution–presents significant
value to organizations and challenges for researchers
and practitioners as summarized in Table 1. The data
Corporate Vision and
warehouse architecture enables the capture and inte- Strategies
Innovation
gration of data into the data warehouse and the trans- Change Management
formation of that data into useful information and
knowledge disseminated appropriately to decision- Fig. 3. Themes for data warehouse support of management
makers within the organization. decision-making.
 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
sion is being made without awareness of all relevant
data and the decision-maker may not even realize that
such missing data exists. Research on integration
issues has been discussed in all layers of the data
warehouse architecture. Effective integration deci-
sions can only be made by those thoroughly familiar
with the domain ontologies both internal and external
to the business system.
4.2. Implementation
Implementation involves the hard work of design-
ing, building, and evaluating the infrastructure of the
data warehouse and the decision support systems to
which it interfaces. As shown in Fig. 3, results from
integration decisions will provide important require-
ments for the implementation activities. Research and
practitioner challenges abound in the areas of physical
and logical data warehouse design, model manage-
ment systems, analytic tools, user interfaces, distrib-
uted decision-making via networks or the Internet,
and decision dissemination policies. Critical issues
of data quality, information security, individual priva-
cy, resource availability, system performance, and
compliance with organizational standards must be
resolved often via difficult tradeoffs.
4.3. Intelligence
Intelligence is rooted in acquiring the appropriate
data (environmental scanning). Business intelligence
is rooted in interpreting that data with respect to a
business task (contextualization). Once the data ac-
quisition and integration systems are implemented,
the procedures for effectively using the resultant in-
formation to derive business intelligence must be put
into place. Such procedures must be aligned with
existing business processes in the organization. For
example, newly derived business intelligence on sup-
ply chain processes (e.g., altered product mixes, new
distribution channels) must be able to immediately
and effectively impact these processes. The ability
to generate business intelligence can be assisted by
computational methods such as data mining, genetic
algorithms, neural networks, and case-based reason-
ing [25]. Active research projects are currently ex-
ploring the application of these methods to derive
business intelligence from information in data ware-
1041
houses. Another key area of research is the develop-
ment of more effective human–computer interfaces to
support management decision-making activities. The
best business intelligence is only effective if it can be
viewed, interpreted, and verified by a human with the
authority to act on it.
4.4. Innovation
As noted earlier, innovation must be a core compe-
tency of any organization if it is to survive and thrive
[9] in the current business environment. Business in-
telligence, used effectively, will lead to innovations in
business products, services, and processes. Such inno-
vations must align with the corporate vision and strat-
egies to be successful. Innovations will lead to
organizational changes and the need to manage these
changes. A critical component of change management
will be the evolution of the data warehouse to capture
the results of the changes and to support on-going
future cycles of improved management decision sup-
port systems.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the participants in the AIS
SIGDSS Pre-ICIS Workshop, Research Directions on
Decision Support, held on December 14, 2003 in Seat-
tle, Washington at which an early version of this paper
was presented. We would also like to thank Hugh J.
Watson (University of Georgia) for his constructive
critique of this work. Thanks are also due to Steve
Alter, Karen (Dowling) Corral, and Michael Goul for
their support and encouragement in this project and for
their efforts in organizing this special issue.
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 S.T. March, A.R. Hevner / Decision Support Systems 43 (2007) 1031–1043
Salvatore T. March: Salvatore T. March is
the David K. Wilson Professor of Manage-
ment at the Owen Graduate School of Man-
agement, Vanderbilt University. He
received a BS in Industrial Engineering
and MS and PhD degrees in Operations
Research from Cornell University. His re-
search interests are in information system
development, distributed database design,
information economics, and electronic
commerce. His research has appeared in
journals such as Communications of the ACM, Decision Support
Systems, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering,
Information Systems Research, and MIS Quarterly. He served as the
Editor_in_Chief of ACM Computing Surveys and as an Associate
Editor for MIS Quarterly. He is currently a Senior Editor for
Information Systems Research and an associate editor for Decision
Sciences Journal.
1043
Alan R. Hevner: Alan R. Hevner is an Em-
inent Scholar and Professor in the College
of Business Administration at the University
of South Florida. He holds the Salomon
Brothers/Hidden River Corporate Park
Chair of Distributed Technology. His areas
of research interest include information sys-
tems development, software engineering,
distributed database systems, and healthcare
information systems. He has published nu-
merous research papers on these topics and
has consulted for several Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Hevner
received a PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University. He
has held faculty positions at the University of Maryland at College
Park and the University of Minnesota. Dr. Hevner is a member of
ACM, IEEE, AIS, and INFORMS.