Online
analytical processing (OLAP)
History of the
term OLAP
In 1985, E. F. Codd coined the term online
transaction processing (OLTP) and proposed 12 rules that define an OLTP
database. His terminology and criteria became widely accepted as the standard
for database used to manage the day-to-day operations (transactions) of a
company. In 1993, Codd came up with the term online analytical procession
(OLAP) and again proposed 12 criteria to define an OLAP database. This time,
his criteria did not gain wide acceptance, but the term OLAP did – many people
thought it was the perfect term to describe databases designed to facilitate
performing analysis. In 1996, Microsoft acquired OLAP
technology.
Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a technique for aggregating data to enable business users to
dig into transactional data to solve business problems. OLAP Services offered a
Cube Creation Wizard to design cube schemas, a Microsoft Management Console
(MMC) snap-in to manage the services, and Pivot Table Services for client-side
OLAP.
Benefit of an OLAP
cube over a relational database
OLAP tools add the following three benefits to a relational database:
- Consistently fast response
- Metadata-based queries
- Spreadsheet-style formulas