G Bryant McClellan;

In a sense you are 100% correct on your assessment with a DW. None the less there are many organizations that don't have something like a very large data repository that allows them to efficiently report on "what-if" scenarios. The framework of a DW with the proper project management design methodology behind it will result in a high performance reliable platform providing good statistics for the "decision makers".

It doesn't take long, after sitting in on a long-winded high-level meeting to find out there is information that is needed to steer a corporation and yet has no way of being tapped.

Kurt