---
title: The Difference Between Operational and Analytical Data Systems
description: Ever wonder the difference between operational and analytical data systems? Arkatechture has you covered!
---

[Data Blog & Analytics | Arkatechture ](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog)

# [The Difference Between Operational and Analytical Data Systems](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog/the-difference-between-operational-and-analytical-data-systems)

 Written by [Kayle Simpson](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog/author/kayle-simpson) | May 31, 2016

Operational and Analytical Data Systems are both very similar in how they provide information on your organization, company, or non-profit, but the two are very structurally different, and provide different types of insights. That might seem a little confusing, so we're going to break down the differences between the two!

#### Are you ready to become more data-driven?

## Operational Data Systems

First up, **Operational Data** is exactly what it sounds like - data that is **produced by your organization's day to day operations**. Things like customer, inventory, and purchase data fall into this category. This type of data is pretty straightforward and will generally look the same for most organizations. If you want to know the most up to date information on something - you’re using Operational Data! **Operational Data Systems** support high-volume low-latency access, called** Online Transactional Processing** tables, or OLTP, where you want to create, read, update, or delete one piece of data at a time.

## Analytical Data Systems

**Analytical Data** is a little more complex and will look different for different types of organizations; however, at it's core is an organization's **Operational Data**. Analytical Data is **used to make business decisions**, as opposed to recording the data from actual operational business processes. Examples include grouping [customers for market segmentation](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog/what-is-member-segmentation) or changes in purchase volume over time. Every organization will have different questions to answer and different decisions to make, so Analytical Data is definitely not one-size-fits-all by any stretch of the imagination! Analytical Data is best stored in a Data System designed for heavy aggregation, data mining, and ad hoc queries, called an **Online Analytical Processing** system, OLAP, or a [Data Warehouse! ](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog/what-is-a-data-warehouse-and-why-does-my-company-need-one)

To recap, **Operational Data Systems**, consisting largely of transactional data, are built for quicker updates. **Analytical Data Systems**, which are intended for decision making, are built for more efficient [analysis](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog/the-power-of-data-analysis-with-arkalytics). Hopefully now you have a better understanding of the difference between Operational and Analytical Data and their corresponding Data Systems! As you can see, both are very important for maintaining and growing an organization, business, or non-profit! 

**Need help organizing and getting the most of your data systems? [Click here to set up a consultation with our data experts](https://www.arkatechture.com/set-up-data-consultation)!**

[View full post](https://www.arkatechture.com/blog/the-difference-between-operational-and-analytical-data-systems)

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