CFT-Data Warehouse - Center of Financial Technologies, Inc.

Data sMart is designed for centralized information infrastructure development and for administrative decision-making based on generated standard and ad hoc reports, use of analytical techniques and the operative data analysis. It uses statistical methods of data processing along with "knowledge extraction" techniques.

Data sMart is a uniform supplier of the data that are used in every process (e.g., reports generation, data analysis and analytics, and administrative decision-making).

Data sMart uses Microsoft and Oracle OLAP-clients. and Internet/Intranet technologies. All transactions made by users are performed through a web-server, although the modular architecture of the system allows use of "traditional" technologies.

The Data sMart system supports decision-making based on the following main principles:

System design is based on modules
Scalability of the informational model of data
Scalability of the functional model of the system
Data openness and transparency
Ease of use for end users
Flexibility and power of the tools used for the informational model design and informational support of end users
Open architecture of the system

Basic diagram

The system is built using the module-based architecture and consists of the following modules (version 1.0 of the system software):

Informational model design tool and procedures for storing data (Oracle Warehouse Builder)
Data storage (Oracle 8.1.6 and higher)
Module for storing data in the storage (Loader 1.0)
Web-server (Tomcat)
Client application server (Web-server, JSP)
Workstation (MS IE 5.0 and higher)
External applications for reporting and analysis of data (MS Excel 2000, Oracle Reports, Oracle Discoverer)

The module-based architecture of the system allows changing any of the listed modules in addition to DBMS Oracle, and Data Storage and integration of additional modules in the system. This tool-set choice is motivated by tasks solved by the system that use the main principles of design and operation (i.e., the development of the corporate data storage and the use of this data as a single non-contradictory source for various goals, such as reporting, development of analytical applications and more).

The end-user part of the system has a 3-layer architecture:

Version 1.0 contains the following client applications:

Storage manager
Workstation of economic analyst
Access administrator

Storage manager

A tool of storage administrator, this application:

Audits (i.e., monitors) storage import processes
Registers application functions for calculations inside the data windows
Performs various maintenance jobs for storage
Provides an overview of the informational model of the storage

Economic analyst workstation

This application is deigned for the end-user’s work with the system of analytic indicators and the server components developed in Data sMart. The economic analyst workstation supports:

Formation of materialized presentations of observations (MPO)
Formation and calculations of data windows
Audit (i.e., monitoring) of calculations for windows
Formation of windows for the manual input of data
Preparation and receipt of reports
Preparation of data for further analysis and display in external applications

Access administrator

This application regulates access rights to information for the Data sMart end users. It supports:

Administration of system users
Administration of users’ access rights to the application functions and to system objects (e.g., data, reports, application functions)
Audit of users’ actions in applications of the system

Universality of interface and workstations

Because a user works with the Internet browser as his or her workstation, software modernization, use of new approaches to development, and exporting of software and hardware to new platforms are all relatively simple tasks. Using a standardized workstation simplifies overall workstation support in the entire bank. The process of data preparation (e.g., the formation of data windows) by end users is relatively simple since it does not require any programming. Users apply formulas (arithmetic expressions containing function calls) that are well-known, easily understandable procedures ideologically similar to the use of EXCEL formulas. The resulting high abstraction level allows concentration on the heart of the problem (i.e., what to do instead of how to do it).

Security system

The Security System:

Authorizes users working with applications
Differentiates user access to applications and application functions
Differentiates user access to objects of the system (e.g., materialized presentations of observations (MPO), application functions, data windows, reports)
Differentiates user access to records of observation (i.e., tables) in the storage through the mechanism of MPO and access rules
Separates users from the storage through MPOs and application functions (the separation is not absolute; see below)
Differentiates access of physical Oracle users to physical data tables (e.g., storage tables, MPOs, and data windows). This differentiation is necessary when users work with the storage through external applications. External applications are connected to Oracle through personified connection of an Oracle user.

Data sMart is licensed by myriad companies, including the two largest banks in Russia:

Savings Bank of Russian Federation >>

Savings Bank of Russian Federation

URALSIB Banking Group >>

URALSIB Banking Group