202 Part II • Applying Information Technology
FIGURE 5.8 Key Elements of Data Warehousingseparate “data warehouse” so that users may access and
analyze the data without endangering the operational
systems. Thus, data warehousingis the establishment and
maintenance of a large data storage facility containing data
on all (or at least many) aspects of the enterprise. If the data
warehouse is to be useful, the data must be accurate, cur-
rent, and stored in a useable form; in addition, easy-to-use
data access and analysis tools for managers and other users
must be provided to encourage full use of the data.
Establishing a data warehouse is time-consuming
and expensive. Three types of software tools are needed:
warehouse construction software, warehouse operation
software, and warehouse access and analysis software.
Warehouse construction software is required to extract
relevant data from the operational databases, make sure the
data are clean (free from error), transform the data into a
useable form, and load the data into the data warehouse
Toyota Motorsport Accelerates Formula One Operations with SAP
Toyota Motor Corporation, the world’s largest automobile manufacturer, employs SAP software at many
places within the company, but one of the more interesting is within Toyota Motorsport GmbH, Toyota’s
German-based motorsport subsidiary. In 2003, Toyota Motorsport chose to implement software from
SAP’s automotive industry solution to streamline ERP processes across its Formula One racing
operations. Toyota Motorsport replaced its previous, nonintegrated systems with SAP for Automotive,
including mySAP Product Lifecycle Management, mySAP Supply Chain Management, mySAP Human
Resources, and mySAP Financials.
Having won seven world championship titles with its World Rally Championship program, Toyota
decided to enter Formula One racing in 1999. The entire car, including the engine and chassis, was
completely designed and constructed at Toyota Motorsport’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany. In
order to operate a Formula One racing program, 20,000 to 30,000 made-to-order parts are required,
and these parts must be quickly available. Further, the parts must be analyzed on an ongoing basis.
Toyota Motorsport felt that SAP software was the best choice to efficiently manage the enormous
amount of data required for the racing program’s success, as well as to control its supply chain, produc-
tion, and financial processes cost effectively.
“Applying knowledge effectively translates into competitive edge,” said Thomas Schiller, IT General
Manager for Toyota Motorsport. “After comprehensive evaluation of several vendors, we found that SAP
could best enable the solid data foundation that is critical to our business. SAP gives us a strategic
advantage, ensuring high availability of reliable information across our operations to make faster and
more informed decisions. With its integrated solutions and powerful scope of functionality, SAP enables us
to effectively execute these decisions and accelerate our production and supply chain processes.”
Toyota Motorsport chose to run the SAP software on Intel-based servers using the Linux
operating system and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) software. The Oracle software permitted
database clustering over multiple servers, such that in the event of a failure one cluster node can take
over for another and system operations can continue.
In late 2009, Toyota pulled out of Formula One racing because of the global economic situation,
but Toyota Motorsport continues to operate as a high-performance development, testing, and
manufacturing facility. Among the services currently offered by Toyota Motorsport are car design and
development, wind tunnel services, engine design and development, and advanced component testing.
[Based on Oracle, 2005; SAP, 2003; and Toyota Motorsport GmbH, 2010]Warehouse
Operation SoftwareOperational
DatabasesQuery Results / ReportsData
WarehouseWarehouse ConstructionSoftwareWarehouse Access and
Operational Data Analysis SoftwareManagers (Users)(see Figure 5.8). Operation software is required to store
the data and manage the data warehouse. Software tools in
the warehouse access and analysis area permit the user to