The first thing to understand with ERP5 is that the data model, i.e. how data input by the user is stored in the Object Database, and the reporting model i.e. how data is structured in tables, are completely independent.
ERP5 departs from traditional object relational mapping (ORM) – a technology which is known not to work since the early 90s - to object relational indexing (ORI) – a technology which is extremely scalable and flexible. ORI is one of the secret weapons of ERP5 which makes it way more scalable than many ERPs, and much easier to handle when it comes to reporting and data mining.
In ERP5, it is possible to configure tables in the so-called catalog, in such a way that document properties extracted from the object database are structures in such a way that reporting can be extremely fast.
In a sense, ERP5 has its own built-in data-warehouse. New tables can be added any time, without interruption of a production system, if specific analyses are required and current tables are not sufficient.
Therefore, the first step in data mining with ERP5 is to feed the catalog with appropriate data.