When data from these operational systems were needed,
Whirlpool used IBM’s QMF as the data access tool. However, Whirlpool’s new business needs
created data access requirements that were not achievable on operational data stores that included
data in raw form, in inconsistent formats, and without the ability to support queries, reports, and
historical requests. Whirlpool needed to handle large amounts of data, support batch loads, and
perform hundreds of complex, often ad hoc, queries from large numbers of users