What’s in a Name? Understanding the Naming Conventions of Purdue Data Warehouse

Throughout the Purdue Data Warehouse Student project, you may have heard various names for the warehouse. Terms like PSDW, PDW Student, and Boiler Insight have been used interchangeably, leading to some confusion. So, what do all these terms mean?

The actual database is named PDW (short for Purdue Data Warehouse) in Oracle. PDW includes data for Administrative Operations, Finance, HR, and Sponsored Programs. PDW Student is an extension of the warehouse for student data, and PSDW is the abbreviation for PDW Student.

Boiler Insight is a relabeling of the Purdue Data Warehouse (PDW) within the Cognos system. It houses data and reports for PDW that support various data management and reporting needs. Boiler Insight: Student Beta is a new package in Cognos that will be used to gradually introduce new stars and dimensions as they are finalized. Although the word “beta” appears in the package name, this data is fully ready for use. At the completion of the project, Boiler Insight: Student Beta will be merged into the main Boiler Insight package.

We hope this context demystifies the various names and labels associated with the PSDW project and its components. If you have additional questions, contact idata@purdue.edu.