What exactly is a corporate information factory, and the pros and cons of this approach?

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What exactly is a corporate information factory, and the pros and cons of this approach? How will this approach help organizations?

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Larissa Moss's Answer: A Corporate Information Factory is the term for a data warehouse environment that recognizes different types of target databases to be used for different decision support reporting purposes. The target databases are the ODS (operational data store), the EDW (enterprise data warehouse), the data marts (tailored to specific reporting patterns) and the exploration warehouse. These databases are implemented for different needs of an organization. An ODS stores integrated and cleansed data from multiple operational source files or databases to be used primarily for tactical and operational reporting. An EDW stores integrated, cleansed and historical data from multiple operational source files to be used primarily for strategic ad hoc reporting which requires maximum flexibility and follows no predetermined reporting patterns. Data marts, by far the most common and most popular databases, store selected pre- calculated data tailored for specific reporting patterns. The exploration warehouse is populated with specific pools of data needed for data mining. This can be detailed data, summarized data, historical or transaction level. An organization should make use of the various types of target databases depending on their decision support needs.