The Migration Workbench requires a database repository to store information pertaining to a Migration Workbench session. When you install the Migration Workbench, it uses the embedded Oracle8i Lite database as the default repository for Windows-based platforms. When you log in to the Migration Workbench for the first time, you can choose to keep Oracle8i Lite as the repository or select Oracle8i/Oracle9i as the repository.
By using the default repository, you do not need to have an Oracle database installed on the system. You can capture the data, compare the information, and obtain reports. This provides you with a snapshot of the database migration prior to actually migrating to Oracle. However, once you have decided to migrate the data to Oracle, you need an Oracle database installed.