OLAP

(Online‐Analytical Processing)
 It was introduced by E.F. Codd, who has been described as “the father of
relational database model”.
 OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing) is computer processing that enables a 
user to easily and selectively extract and view data from different points of
view.
 OLAP allows users to analyze database information from multiple database
systems at one time.
 OLAP data is stored in multidimensional databases.
 OLAP is a category of software technology that it allows /enables analysts,
managers, and executives to analyze the complex data derived from the
data warehouse.
 The online indicates that the analysts, managers, and executives must be
able to request new summaries and get the responses online, within a few
seconds.
 Technology used to perform complex analysis of the data in a data
warehouse
 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) is based on the multidimensional data
model.
 Nigel Pendse has suggested that an alternative and 
perhaps more descriptive term to describe the 
concept of OLAP is  Fast Analysis of Shared 
Multidimensional Information (FASMI)
 That is, most fundamentals definition of OLAP covering its all features is
named as FASMI.

Fast Analysis of Shared  Multidimensional Information (FASMI)

Fast : to achieve a high response speed, various techniques such as

the use of pre-calculations specialized data storage should be considered.
Analysis: It lets users to enter query interactively for performing
statistical analysis.
Shared : It allows multiple users to access the same data concurrently.
Multidimensional: It allows business users to have a multidimensional
and logical view of the data in the data warehouse for making effective
decision.
Information: It enables users to see the results in number of meaningful
ways such as charts and graphs. It includes all the data and calculated
information required by the users.
Page 1 of 8
OLAP Operations
Since OLAP servers are based on multidimensional view of data, we will
discuss OLAP operations in multidimensional data.

Here is the list of OLAP operations −

 Roll-up
 Drill-down
 Slice and dice
 Pivot (rotate)
Roll-up: summarize data
Roll-up performs aggregation on a data cube in any of the following ways −

 By climbing up a concept hierarchy for a dimension

 By dimension reduction

The following diagram illustrates how roll-up works.

 Roll-up is performed by climbing up a concept hierarchy for the dimension

location.
 Initially the concept hierarchy was "street < city < province < country".
Page 2 of 8
  On rolling up, the data is aggregated by ascending the location hierarchy from
the level of city to the level of country.
 The data is grouped into cities rather than countries.
 When roll-up is performed, one or more dimensions from the data cube are
removed.


Drill-down : reverse of roll-up

Drill-down is the reverse operation of roll-up. It is performed by either of the
following ways −

 By stepping down a concept hierarchy for a dimension (from higher level

summary to lower level summary or detailed data)

 By introducing a new dimension.

The following diagram illustrates how drill-down works −

 Drill-down is performed by stepping down a concept hierarchy for the dimension

time.
 Initially the concept hierarchy was "day < month < quarter < year."
 On drilling down, the time dimension is descended from the level of quarter to
the level of month.
 When drill-down is performed, one or more dimensions from the data cube
are added.
 It navigates the data from less detailed data to highly detailed data.
Page 3 of 8
Slice
The slice operation selects one particular dimension from a given cube and
provides a new sub-cube. Consider the following diagram that shows how
slice works.

 Here Slice is performed for the dimension "time" using the criterion time = "Q1".
 Slice will form a new sub-cube by selecting one dimension.

Page 4 of 8
Dice
Dice selects two or more dimensions from a given cube and provides a new
sub-cube. Consider the following diagram that shows the dice operation.

The dice operation on the cube based on the following selection criteria
involves three dimensions.

 (location = "Toronto" or "Vancouver")

 (time = "Q1" or "Q2")

 (item =" Mobile" or "Modem")

Pivot (rotate):
The pivot operation is also known as rotation. It rotates the data axes in
view in order to provide an alternative presentation of data. Consider the
following diagram that shows the pivot operation.

Page 5 of 8
Types of OLAP Servers
We have four types of OLAP servers −

 Relational OLAP (ROLAP)

 Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP)
 Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP)
 Specialized SQL Servers

Relational OLAP
ROLAP servers are placed between relational back-end server and client
front-end tools. To store and manage warehouse data, ROLAP uses relational
or extended-relational DBMS.

ROLAP includes the following −

 Implementation of aggregation navigation logic.

 Optimization for each DBMS back end.
 Additional tools and services.

Page 6 of 8
 Multidimensional OLAP
MOLAP uses array-based multidimensional storage engines (sparse matrix
techniques) for multidimensional views of data. With multidimensional data
stores, the storage utilization may be low if the data set is sparse. Therefore,
many MOLAP server use two levels of data storage representation to handle
dense and sparse data sets.

Hybrid OLAP
Hybrid OLAP is a combination of both ROLAP and MOLAP. It offers higher
scalability of ROLAP and faster computation of MOLAP. HOLAP servers allows
to store the large data volumes of detailed information. The aggregations are
stored separately in MOLAP store.

Specialized SQL Servers

Specialized SQL servers provide advanced query language and query
processing support for SQL queries over star and snowflake schemas in a
read-only environment.

OLTP
(Online‐Transaction Processing)

This technology used to perform updates on operational or

transactional systems (e.g., point of sale systems)
(OLTP vs OLAP ) AT A GLANCE…
OLTP OLAP
Short Transaction both  Long transactions, usually 
query and updates (e.g., update account  Complex queries. (e.g., all statistics about 
balance, enroll is courses) sales, grouped by 
department and month).
Queries are Simple “Data mining”  operations
(e.g., find account balance, 
find grade in courses)
Updates are frequent Infrequent Updates.
(e.g., Concert tickets, seat 
reservations, shopping  carts)

Page 7 of 8
 OLTP vs OLAP
Operational Database (OLTP) Data Warehouse (OLAP)

Involves day-to-day processing. Involves historical processing of information.

OLTP systems are used by clerks, DBAs, OLAP systems are used by knowledge
or database professionals. workers such as executives, managers and
analysts.

Useful in running the business. Useful in analyzing the business.

It focuses on Data in. It focuses on Information out.

Based on Entity Relationship Model. Based on Star Schema, Snowflake, Schema

and Fact Constellation Schema.

Contains current data. Contains historical data.

Provides primitive and highly detailed Provides summarized and consolidated data.
data.

Provides detailed and flat relational view Provides summarized and multidimensional
of data. view of data.

Number of users is in thousands. Number or users is in hundreds.

Number of records accessed is in tens. Number of records accessed is in millions.

Database size is from 100 MB to 1 GB. Database size is from 100 GB to 1 TB

Provides high performance. Highly flexible.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OLTP & OLAP

Item OLTP OLAP

User Clerk, IT Professional Knowledge worker

Functional Daily task (day to day operation) Decision Making / support

DB  Design Application oriented subject oriented

Data Current, up to date, detail,  relational Historical, multidimensional,  integrated,

summarised, consolidated

Access Read/write Read only

DB  Size 100 MB‐GB 100 GB‐TB

Unit of work Short, simple transaction Complex query

#Record accessed Tens Millions

Usage Structured, repetitive Ad hoc

Page 8 of 8