DC Data communications—technology that manages messages generated as part of
transaction processing
Decryption The process of returning text to its original state after that text has been
encrypted
Defect An item that does not conform to expected quality standards
Denormalization The design technique of placing normalized data in a structure so that
access to the data is optimized
Dependent data mart A data mart whose sole source of data is the data warehouse; a
dependent data mart is a component of the corporate information factory
Derived data Data whose value is achieved as the result of a calculation
Dimension A category for summarizing or viewing data (e.g., a time period, product,
product line, and geographic region)
Dimensional modeling A generally accepted practice in the data warehouse industry to
structure data intended for user access, analysis, and reporting in dimensional data
models
Dimension table The place where extraneous data that relate to a fact table inside a start
join are placed
Direct access of data The ability of a database management system to directly find data,
as opposed to having to sequentially search for data
Directory A table, block, folder, or database containing indexes and their interpretation
Dis Data item set—the midlevel of a data model
Disk storage Physical media used for storing values of data
Distillation The process of analyzing a large number of records (usually big data records)
and producing a single result
Document A basic unit of textual data
Glossary