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38 CHAPTER 2 Introduction to Enterprise Systems

Figure 2-11: Purchase order

then become historical data and must be archived securely and made available
for many types of data analysis. This process generates many more terabytes
of historical data that are stored in complex data repositories called data ware-
houses. With such a massive volume of data to deal with, how can a company
extract the meaningful information it needs to make better decisions and oper-
ate more effi ciently?
At the most basic level, every enterprise system contains transaction and
historical data in its main database. Transaction data relate to processes that
are currently in use or have been completed recently, within days or weeks.

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