A unique avenue for the online distribution of university data and reports is now available at Warehouse On the Web (WOW). WOW, a part of the university's Data Warehouse, provides accurate, reliable, and secure data in a fast, easy-to-access manner.

Before the institution of the Data Warehouse, it could take days to receive requested information, and then it would be in a hard copy format. Now, data is instantly available to meet university strategic and management needs, at all levels, from virtually any PC or Mac workstation.

The Data Warehouse holds data on faculty appointments, personnel, budget, ORAA proposals and awards, and it is still growing. It has recently added some student data.

With queries developed by BrioQuery users within the service offices, business managers and university administrators (academic and administrative) can use the web to receive reports about data within their unit. BrioQuery is a software tool, from Brio Technology Inc., which interfaces with the Data Warehouse and formulates reports based on criteria provided in the query.

Use of Warehouse on the Web requires proper authorization and the purchase and installation of a web browser plug-in, enabling a user to run queries and display reports. All data are secured and partitioned into groups of security levels within the warehouse so that end users will only have access to data related to the area for which they have approval. Data managers oversee the data subsets and grant access based on need, but only after authorization from an appropriate department head. The required web plug-in, called Brio.QuickView, costs $60.00, which includes the first year's maintenance.

Once access is granted, WOW can be reached through the Administrative Resource Enterprise Services (ARES) web page (http://ares.umd.edu) More information, and forms to request access, can be obtained through the OIT web page (http://www.oit.umd.edu) by selecting Data Warehouse from the service index, or by contacting Lori Kasamatsu in the Office of Data Administration, a part of the Administrative and Enterprise Applications unit in OIT, at 301.405.1713.