Inmon vs. Kimball

Inmon and Kimball are two leading approaches to designing data warehouses. Inmon advocates building a centralized, comprehensive data warehouse using a top-down approach, integrating data from various sources into a detailed, normalized structure, which is then accessed by specific data marts. Kimball, on the other hand, promotes a bottom-up method, creating smaller, user-focused data marts first, which are then combined into a cohesive data warehouse using denormalized, dimensional structures. Essentially, Inmon emphasizes a unified, detailed foundation, while Kimball focuses on quick, flexible access through tailored data marts. Both aim to improve data analysis but differ in design strategy.