Welcome to lesson two of module one on DBMS Extensions and Example Data Warehouses. This lesson provides an overview of the topics, assessments, and software requirements. You should reflect on this lesson as you work through the details of this course. Through this lesson, you should understand the nature of the topics and assessments, as well as the specific software requirements. The most important part of this module is to install and configure the Oracle software, if you do not have access to an external Oracle server. The course topics are focused on important artifacts that you will learn and manipulate. The first part of the course is a conceptual focus, with several example data warehouses presented, to provide a context for other modules. The second part of the course emphasizes an extension to the group by clause for subtotal operators, important for analysis of data cubes. The third part of the course covers extensions to the SQL select statement for analytic functions, important for business intelligence analysis. The fourth part of the course provides details about summary data management involving materialized views. The fifth part of the course covers data governance and other important data administration topics. This diagram indicates more topic detail in the flow of topics. The course is organized into five modules, with lessons covering the details of each module. You can keep this diagram in mind as you work through the details of the course, so that you maintain perspective on your progress. The first module has a conceptual focus with quizzes and software installation. The next three modules have a skill focus, with an emphasis on query formulation using subtotal operators, analytic functions, and materialized views. The last module has a conceptual focus with coverage of big data impacts, physical data warehouse design, and data governance. Since the course is problem and skill oriented, the major assessments come from assignments. In modules two, three, and four you have assignments that demonstrate your mastery of skills. You'll write SQL statements to implement each problem statement. Assignments in modules two and three involve query formulation using new parts of the SQL select statement for subtotal operators and analytic functions. The assignment module four involves statements to create materialized views and then rewrite select statements to use materialized views. Each assignment has a similar assessment approach. You will take a detailed quiz covering the details of each problem. In addition, you will submit screen snapshots to demonstrate execution of each SQL statement. You can study practice problems in each module to prepare you for the graded assignments. For conceptual material covered in each module, you will take a graded quiz. The graded quizzes for modules one and five will be more detailed as these modules do not have assignments. Assignments in modules two, three, and four involve access to an Oracle Server, either local or remote. Although the SQL standard contains details about subtotal operators, analytic functions, and materialized views, the details differ substantially across DBMSs. Thus, it is necessary to use one database product in this course. Oracle is an industry leader in data warehouse technology, so it is an excellent product to learn about these SQL extensions. Module one contains a lesson with substantial details about installing and configuring an Oracle server. In addition, discussions had helpful comments from learning about installing and configuring an Oracle server. If you have access to an external local server, perhaps through an employer, you should not need to install and configure a local Oracle server. You can use any client providing access to an Oracle server, although I recommend use the Oracle SQL developer client. This course provides a unified coverage of concepts, query formulation skills, and SQL statement details for relational database support of data warehouses. You also learn about important data warehouse administration topics, including big data impact, physical data warehouse design, and data governance. You will perform assignments to master skills in query formulation and materialized view usage. You must write Oracle SQL statements for each assignment, so you need access to an Oracle server and client. Most of your learning will occur through your work on practice problems and graded assignments. Your work in this course will extend the foundation, provided in the second course in the specialization, for your journey towards a challenging and rewarding career as a data warehouse or business intelligence professional.
