Fig. 6.3.3 Hard and soft business rules.The idea is to separate data interpretation from data storage and alignment rules. By
decoupling these rules, the team is enabled to be increasingly agile. Also, the business
users can be empowered, and the business intelligence solution can be moved toward
managed self-service BI.
Beyond that, the Data Vault 2.0-based data warehouse carries raw data, in a
nonconformed state. That data are aligned with the business constructs known as
business keys (which are defined in the data vault modeling section of this chapter).
The raw data, integrated by business keys, serve as a foundation for passing audits,
especially, since the data set is not in a conformed format. The idea of the Data Vault 2.0
model is to provide for data-warehousing-based storage of raw data, so that if necessary
(due to an audit or other needs), the team can reconstruct or reassemble the source
system data.
This, in turn, makes the Data Vault 2.0-based data warehouse a system of record. Mostly
because after warehousing the data from the source systems, those systems are either
shut down or replaced by newer sources. In other words, the Data Vault 2.0 data
warehouse becomes the only place where one can find the raw history integrated by
business key.
Chapter 6.3: Introduction to Data Vault Architecture