Data Vault, in it's own creator's words, is a system of Business Intelligence, which includes modeling, methodology, architecture, and implementation best practices.
It is a data modeling technique, which relies on standartized entities - Hubs, Links, Satellites - building up layered Vaults in a strictly defined manner.
Pros
- Model facilitates reacting to business changes
- While has 3-6 times more objects than normalized Data Warehouse, data transformations can be easily automated and often run in parallel
- Most changes are compartmentalized to a specific layer
Cons
- Requires strong commitment and adherence to the standard
- Hardly possible without automation tools