Re: XML in datawarehouses?

My feeling is that XML would be great for metadata but would be less well suited for data, which usually has a much larger volume and a more-regular, less-complex structure than metadata. There'd be a lot of wasted space marking up all your data. If you're bulk-loading data or unloading it for transfer to someone else who'll be loading it, well-defined record layouts are more than adequate.

                                          Seth

Vikas Agnihotri wrote:
>
> Has anyone used XML at any stage in implementing a datawarehouse?
> Middleware, during the ETL phase, whatever...
>
> XML's built-in self-descriptive nature seems like it would lend itself
> well to gathering data from disparate sources and making sense of it
> before it is loaded into the warehouse. Simplistically, all you would
> need is a XML-aware middleware layer between your source systems and
> your DW.
>
> Any thoughts, comments appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Vikas
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.

-- 
Seth Grimes   Alta Plana   database & Web / design & development
grimes_at_altaplana.com       http://altaplana.com    301-873-8225