An Operational Data Store (ODS) is a type of database that is used for operational reporting and as a source of data for the enterprise data warehouse (EDW) . It is a complementary element to an EDW in a decision support system. An ODS is designed to integrate data from multiple sources for additional operations on the data, for reporting, controls, and operational decision support. Unlike a production master data store, the data is not passed back to operational systems. An ODS is usually designed to contain low-level or atomic (indivisible) data (such as transactions and prices) with limited history that is captured "real time" or "near real time" as opposed to the much greater volumes of data stored in the data warehouse generally on a less-frequent basis.

Some key features of an ODS include:

• Consolidation: An ODS can consolidate data from different sources, different systems, or even different locations.
• Troubleshooting: The current state view of ODS makes it easier to identify and diagnose issues when they occur.
• Data Volatility: ODS data is extremely volatile, with values changing in something close to real-time.
• Fast, sub-second queries: Because ODS only reflects the most current view of transactional data, it is excellent at performing quick queries.
• Lower concurrency: An ODS performance largely depends on the workload and design. ODS works best for running smaller queries at a given time.

An ODS can be used for integrating disparate data from multiple sources so that business operations, analysis, and reporting can be carried out while business operations are occurring. It contains up-to-date information integrated from operational sources and supports business intelligence (BI) tools that aid in tactical decision-making. An ODS is connected to multiple data sources and pulls data into a central location. Because the data originates from multiple sources, the integration often involves cleaning, resolving redundancy, and checking against business rules for integrity. ODS reporting, which is focused on a snapshot of operational data, can be more sophisticated than reports from individual underlying systems.