Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Tools
Online analytical processing (OLAP) tools enable the arrangement of data into multiple dimensions so it can be represented as or called cubes. This is useful for fast analysis and looking at data from multiple dimensions. OLAP tools generally have two component architectures; the first one is a server-side component and the second one is a client-facing component. This client-facing component can be on the web or on the desktop. The architecture, like that of ROLAP, MOLAP, and OLAP tools, can offer multi-dimensional capabilities to provide interactive analysis with drill-down/drill-up functionality with different levels of granularity and detail.
Figure 7-4 demonstrates an example of an OLAP multi-dimensionality cube with dimensions like products, time, and geography.
Figure 7-4. OLAP cube
Within categories of BI tools, OLAP cubes generally use a star schema data model. The OLAP cubes are capable of showing 360-degree views of data using a combination of measures within facts and non-measures in dimensional tables. These cubes can be on-demand or batch jobs.
A benefit of using OLAP tools is the availability of a 360-degree view of data. This leads to a reduction of the chance of misinterpretation. Analysts have a mental model that requires a specific or a combination of multiple permutations and combinations of multiple facts and dimensions to navigate. The availability of OLAP tools helps in aligning with an analyst’s mental model, which enables the analyst to navigate the full or subset of data through continuous interaction. Common OLAP operations include slicing and dicing, drill up/down, roll up/down, and pivot.
Note Slicing/dicing (refer to light-blue color shown in Figure 7-4 ): in a simple analogy, if the cube is a cake, slice is the subset of this cake with a single array of multidimensional cubes consisting of combination of horizontal or vertical member of dimension.
Dicing is the slicing of more than two dimensions of a data cube; these dimensions could be consecutive dimensions.
Drill down/up is an analytical technique whereby the user navigates through the granularity of the data, ranging from summarization to the most granular detail. The movement from summarized version to most granular one is called drilling down. Drill up is the rolling up in the reverse direction, from granularity to summarization.
Pivoting is the ability to display and modify the orientation of dimensions of the report.