Resumen
This article focuses on the wide decision support and data access of Comcast Cable Communications Inc. which is the fourth largest cable television operator in the U.S., with nearly 4.3 million subscribers. The cable operator wanted to create a fast, efficient decision support system, even though the company's systems were spread over six geographical areas involving more than 70 site locations. It took two months in 1997 for Comcast to deploy the software Brio Enterprise, including tools and application. The data warehouse project at Comcast had got under way just two years ago when the Internet was fast becoming a viable conduit for distributing corporate information. Users at Comcast's remote sites today connect to the corporate intranet via either local Internet service providers or the Comcast infrastructure and use the tools to view and analyze such information as capital-status reports, general ledgers, invoices and other financial data without overloading the Comcast Intranet. The project has gone well and Comcast is now in the process of transferring data from various custom applications to the data warehouse to allow universal access.