).
The combination of more powerful (yet physically smaller and less expensive) computers and innovations in software programming is permitting ever larger sets of data to be manipulated in ever smaller organizational units for the development of business forecasts (Bowley, 1995, p. 18). One example of new IS technology that leads to improvements in the process of business forecasting is Data Warehouse, an emerging database technology (Edwards, 1994, p. 74). Data Warehouse provides an organization with the capability to take information from multiple systems and databases and store this information in a subject-oriented manner. This technology adds both speed and flexibility to the data manipulation process. Data added to a Data Warehouse can be supplemented with new data; however the data placed in a Data Warehouse cannot be modified. This approach facilitates the analysis of changes in data sets over time, a feature that is crucial in business forecasting.
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