3.3 The data

The data that is used within both the FRS and the HDS applications is extracted from an Oracle database in which the detailed study data is collected. The ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process is performed via a so called import/transform procedure. During the execution of this procedure a SAS program extracts the data from the Oracle database, the data is transformed into a structure optimised for reporting and finally loaded into the SAS data structure.

3.4 The FRS and HDS within NOTOX

The FRS is considered a business critical application. The application is used to produce the tables and graphs for the final study reports, a key deliverable to the sponsors of NOTOX. Because of this a support agreement between NOTOX and OCS is in place. The HDS is a supporting application which uses the same source of data as the FRS. The HDS generates reports containing descriptive statistics using data of similar projects. These descriptive statistics assist with the interpretation of the findings of a particular study.