Data Mart: 10 Definitions

“A subset of the contents of a data warehouse, stored within its database. A data mart tends to contain data focused at the department level, or on a specific business area. It is frequently implemented to manage the volume and scope of data.” (Microsoft Corporation, “Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 System Administration Training Kit”, 1999)

“A database that contains a copy of operational data, organized to support analysis of a business process. A data mart may be a subject area within an enterprise data warehouse, or an analytic database that is departmentally focused. When not planned as part of an enterprise data warehouse, a data mart may become a stovepipe. When deployed as an adjunct to a normalized data warehouse, a data mart may contain aggregated data. When built around a conformance bus, the data mart is neither a stovepipe nor an aggregation.” (Christopher Adamson, “Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates”, 2006)

“A departmentalized structure of data feeding from the data warehouse where data is denormalized based on the department’s need for information.” (William H Inmon & Anthony Nesavich, “Tapping into Unstructured Data”, 2007)

“A smaller, more specialized version of a data warehouse that includes data from a specific functional area or department.” (Ken Withee, “Microsoft Business Intelligence For Dummies”, 2010)

“A decision support database supporting Business Intelligence in a limited subject area, using a dimensional data model design.” (DAMA International, “The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management”, 2011)

“A focused collection of operational data that is usually confined to a specific aspect or subject of a business, such as customers, products, or suppliers. It is a more focused decision support data store than a data warehouse.” (Daniel J Power & Ciara Heavin, “Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence” 3rd Ed., 2017)

“A subset of a data warehouse that contains data that is tailored and optimized for the specific reporting needs of a department or team. A data mart can be a subset of a warehouse for an entire organization, such as data that is contained in online analytical processing (OLAP) tools.” (Sybase, “Open Server Server-Library/C Reference Manual”, 2019)

“A data structure that is optimized for access. It is designed to facilitate end-user analysis of data. It typically supports a single, analytic application used by a distinct set of workers.” (The Data Warehousing Institute)

“A subset of the contents of a data warehouse that tends to contain data focused at the department level, or on a specific business area.” (Microsoft)

“A data mart is a subset of data stored within the overall data warehouse, for the needs of a specific team, section or department within the business enterprise. […] Data marts make it much easier for individual departments to access key data insights more quickly and helps prevent departments within the business organization from interfering with each other’s data.” (Sisense)

More definitions on “Data Mart” at http://sql-troubles.blogspot.com.