End-to-End Data Warehouse Pipeline for a Rental Company

Data Warehousing Business Intelligence

I built a data warehouse from a raw DVD rental company database, then turned the results into Tableau dashboards a manager could act on.

SQL MySQL Tableau Window Functions Joins Subqueries

01 The Problem

The rental company had years of transaction data in raw tables but no way to see who its best customers were, which movies made money, or which stores underperformed.

02 The Approach

1

Focus First

Picked one theme — customer behavior and revenue — and built everything around it.

2

Data Joining

Combined 7 tables into one warehouse so every rental carried full context.

3

Running Totals

Added window functions for total spend and revenue per customer, film, and store.

4

Query Writing

Wrote 8 SQL queries answering specific business questions using joins, grouping, and subqueries.

5

Dashboarding

Connected the warehouse to Tableau for at-a-glance dashboards.

03 The Result

Top Customers

A small group of high spenders drives a disproportionate share of revenue

Best customers stood out once spend was tracked across the warehouse.

Growth Target

“Mid Spenders” are the biggest group and drive the most total revenue

The volume segment — not only VIPs — carried the business.

Category Winners

Sci-Fi, Sports, and Animation lead in revenue

Clear winners for inventory and promotion decisions.

Rental Length

7–8 day rentals earn the most per rental

Longer holds outperformed short turns on revenue per rental.

Peak Time

Tuesday afternoons are the busiest

A concrete window for staffing and ops planning.

Store Comparison

Both stores earn ~$33.7K

Revenue looks even — cost differences may still affect profitability.

04 Business Impact

Loyalty Program

Target Mid Spenders directly.

Inventory Shift

Stock more high-performing categories.

Pricing Change

Encourage longer rentals.

Staffing Fix

Schedule around the Tuesday peak.

05 What I Learned

The hard part wasn’t the SQL — it was picking one clear business question and sticking to it.