DM: Queries...

[Srikanth Jagannath T 211 R G-Floor WS blrsn47]

Hello,

        I am really sorry for such a long mail, but I have some 
queries.

        I have a few queries regarding the application of Data Mining 
and
        Data Warehousing. Yesterday I had posted to this group about 
some
        practical case studies, and Mr. Dorothy Firsching had 
responded asking
        me to have a look at http://www.nautilus-systems.com/. Yep,I 
had a
        look at this site, and got some information on applicaiton of 
Data 
        Mining to the marketing of medicines. Here again it is 
mentioned that
        the data was analysed, extracted and from this knowledge was 
extracted.

        But my quesion is, what sort of data would be helpful for such
        analysis. Usually, I guess, that such companies perform a 
market
        survey by going to the consumers with a questionaire, and they
        perform analysis on this data obtained from the questionaire. 
If again 
        such data is gathered and analysis done using this, then what 
is the need 
        for Data Mining. In the case of Data Mining, I guess, that 
this 
        information is obtained from the data recorded about each 
consumer 
        transaction in the database. I have a typical marketing 
scenario for 
        which I am wondering as to what should be the data that has 
        to be recorded. I would give you a brief of the scenario:

        I have a company providing some service to the customers. The 
company
        stores data regarding the customer, the service being 
provided,
        customer transactions, billing details, payment details, 
etc.,. Now my
        aim is to find the customer base which would respond if the 
company
        starts a new service, I would also like to know as to what 
would be
        the response for the new service, what new service to start 
and things
        like this. For this what special data must be stored in the 
database.

        Moreover I have been having some conflicting thoughts about 
Data
        Warehousing. As far as I perceived Data Warehousing is a data 
store     
        that stores historic data, and data analysis can be done on 
this
        data store. But when I explained this to a lay man, he was 
asking me
        as to if this is just the use of Data Warehousing then why do 
you need
        one, or why is it being called Data Warehouse, and not just 
any other
        database, say Historic Database. I was just wondering on this 
point.

        Actually all this is happening because I have not had any 
formal 
        discussion with any experts/researchers in this area. The 
knowledge
        that I have gained is by reading research papers. So it would 
be
        great if someone gives me an insight into this questions, and 
also
        some suggestions on some book/paper that is more explanatory 
in these
        aspects.

        Thanks in advance,
        regards
        -srikanth