Operational data store

According to Bill Inmon, an operational data store (ODS) is a subject-oriented, integrated, volatile, current-valued, detailed-only collection of data in support of an organization's need for up-to-the-second, operational, integrated, collective information.

An operational data store (or "ODS") is a database designed to integrate data from multiple sources to facilitate operations, analysis and reporting. Because the data originates from multiple sources, the integration often involves cleaning, redundancy resolution and business rule enforcement. An ODS is usually designed to contain low level or atomic (indivisible) data such as transactions and prices as opposed to aggregated or summarized data such as net contributions. Aggregated data is usually stored in the Data warehouse.

Bill Inmon Article about ODS

Operational Data Storage