You can use snapshots of a primary database to create a replica of the database at a given moment in time. You can then implement decision support analysis and report generation operations that take their data from the database copy rather than from the primary database. The FastResync functionality of Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) allows you to quickly refresh the database copy with up-to-date information from the primary database. Reducing the time taken to update decision support data also lets you generate analysis reports more frequently.