OLAP

OLAP can be used for data mining or the discovery of previously undiscerned relationships between data items. An OLAP database does not need to be as large as a data warehouse, since not all transactional data is needed for trend analysis. Using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), data can be imported from existing relational databases to create a multidimensional database for OLAP.

Two leading OLAP products are Hyperion Solution's Essbase and Oracle's Express Server. OLAP products are typically designed for multiple-user environments, with the cost of the software based on the number of users.

Learn more about Data warehouse software

Data Warehouse Platforms Product Directory: Inside this data warehouse platform product directory you'll find basic information about the major vendors in the data warehouse market and the products they sell.
How to evaluate data warehouse software in five steps: What's the process for evaluating data warehouse software?
How to choose between the Inmon vs. Kimball approach for data warehouse design: What's your take on the Ralph Kimball vs. Bill Inmon approaches to data warehouse design?
Data Warehouse Platforms Product Directory: Inside this data warehouse platform product directory you'll find basic information about the major vendors in the data warehouse market and the products they sell.
SearchDataManagement.com product directory library: These product directories are designed to assist organizations in evaluating and purchasing data management software
Data warehouse appliances -- in a nutshell: This guide provides an overview of data warehouse appliance trends and concepts. Get tips for advancing a data warehouse strategy, learn the benefits of data warehousing and more.
	Data management books: Read sample chapters from industry-renowned data management books. Browse free excerpts about BI, compliance and security, EDI, data warehousing, data quality and data governance.
Data model patterns: A metadata map: Read this excerpt from Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map for a guide to all things metadata. That is, data about data.

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know. Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com

More resources from around the web: - The OLAP Report provides up-to-date information on the OLAP market, applications, and products. It offers additional information for subscribers to its printed publication.

FILE EXTENSION AND FILE FORMAT LIST File Extension and File Format List: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

RELATED CONTENT Microsoft details self-service business intelligence, data warehouse releases Microsoft has taken the wraps off its upcoming BI and data warehouse releases, an Excel add-on called PowerPivot and a massive parallel processing... Why pay for a data warehouse appliance when you can get one free? Data warehouse appliance vendors Greenplum and ParAccel are giving away their products in an attempt to differentiate themselves in a highly... In-database analytics pulls together SAS, data warehouse vendors SAS is working on in-database analytics initiatives with several data warehouse vendors that want its data mining applications to run inside their...

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary data modeling  (SearchDataManagement.com) Data modeling is the analysis of data objects that are used in a business or other context and the identification of the relationships among these... extract, transform, load  (SearchDataManagement.com) In managing databases, extract, transform, load (ETL) refers to three separate functions combined into a single programming tool.