2 Chapter 2. The real-time enterprise In this chapter we take a closer look at a description of the real-time enterprise, address some of the technical challenges for implementing such an environment, and then consider the solution capabilities that IBM has to offer. From one perspective, part of a real-time enterprise is related to information technology and part to the business itself. For example, in a real-time enterprise, transactions and data, in many cases, are flowing in more of a continuous manner rather than only being processed in batches. And, where required, the direction is to design and manage the business processes to be flexible and capable of supporting such a continuous flow environment. The flow of data from the process steps should tend towards continuous. Where required, and justifiable, the data should flow from the process step reporting system to the data warehousing environment (EDW), where it will be available for analysis and decision-making. An alternative approach that will also be covered in this redbook is the use of the operational data store (ODS). With this approach, the data first flows into the ODS, and then, at the appropriate time, into the EDW. Continuous flow means that the time delay from completion of each process step to storage of the data in the EDW, should tend towards a zero latency - where required and justifiable. This real-time data flow enables the most current data to be available for analysis and decision-making. With this more current data, management can more proactively manage the business processes, to meet the © Copyright IBM Corp. 2006. All rights reserved. 29