Advanced OLAP Concepts

Part 1
<OLAP Concepts 201 Series>
Renu Singh

2009 Wipro Ltd Internal & Restricted

 OLAP Overview

On-Line Analytical Processing is a decision support software that allows

the user to quickly analyze information that has been summarized into
multidimensional views and hierarchies.
There are three main features of OLAP system :
Multidimensional Viewing OLAP supports multidimensional model
which consists of facts and dimensions also called as Star Schema.
Calculation Intensive Capabilities Due to data is stored in facts and
dimensions tables, it enables users to analyze data without much
calculations.
Time Series analysis Enables users to analyze data across time.
This Module will cover the details in four parts:
Part 1 OLAP Modeling Building Blocks
Part 2 OLAP Types & Architectures
Part 3 OLAP Reporting Styles
Part 4 OLAP Issues & Optimization
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 OLAP Objectives

Upon completion of this module you will be able to:

Understand OLAP Building Blocks i.e. OLAP Modeling

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 OLAP Outline

Lesson 1 OLAP Modeling

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 OLAP Modeling

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
Multidimensional modeling
Basis for OLAP application. It represents data under the
metaphor of a cube whose cell corresponds to event that
occurred in business domain.

Measure Dimension

Dimension
Dimension

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
A simple representation of dimensional fact
schema Category

Type
brand

Product

week

Invoice Line

state city customer date month year

Quantity
Unit price
Net amount
VAT
Total amount
discount

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling

Dimension Attributes
Property of dimension
Example: product dimension is described by type, category, brand

Hierarchy
Directed tree, rooted in a dimension. All nodes are
dimension attributes
Example:

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
Few other important items
Convergence - two attributes in a same dimension and same
hierarchy are connected by more than one alternate path

Cross dimensional attribute whose value is determined by

two or more dimension attribute. Example: VAT- depends on both
product category and state

Operational/Multiple Arcs Defines the association of

attributes in dimensional model

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
Shared Hierarchy Helps to reduce redundancy of using large
portion of hierarchies twice or more in same Fact schema

Ragged (incomplete) Hierarchy Relates the instances where

values of one or more attributes are missing. It mostly occurs in
geographic hierarchy

Unbalanced Hierarchy each level has a consistent meaning, but

the branches have inconsistent depths

Dynamic Hierarchy Frequently changes hierarchy as time is a key

factor

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
OLAP Cube (Data Cube)
It is a data structure that allows faster analysis of data. It will help user to
analyze facts at multiple level of abstraction

A cube is a set of possible views defined over a list of dimensions, a base

table and aggregated measures. Cube view can be denoted as CV[G],
where G is a granularity
Example: A cube view that sums amounts sold at category Department
can be defined as
Select Department, SUM(amount)
from sales, T[Product, department]
where sales.product = T[Product, department].product
group by department
This view can be defined as CV[department]

11 2009 Wipro Ltd - Confidential

Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
OLAP Operations

Rollup and Drilldown operations:

Rollup operations aggregates cube view to a higher
granularity. It is also called a summarization or consolidation. As an
example, sales figure can be aggregated in agent level and then city
level

Drilldown is a process where user travel from summarized

to more detail level. As an example, sales in zonal level can be detailed
to agent level

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Building Blocks - Dimensional Fact modeling
OLAP Operations
Slice and Dice operations:
Slice is limiting the analysis of OLAP cube to a given
attribute/property. It is a two dimensional view of a cube.

Dice limits analysis to subset of an attribute

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Building Blocks Codd Rules for OLAP
Basic Features
Multidimensional conceptual view
Intuitive data manipulation
Accessibility
Client Server Architecture
Transparency
Multi-user support
Reporting Features
Flexible reporting
Uniform reporting performance
Automatic adjustment of Physical Level

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Building Blocks Codd Rules for OLAP
Dimensional Features
Generic dimensionality
Unlimited dimensions and aggregation levels
Unrestricted cross-dimensional operations

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Module Summary
Congratulations! You have now completed the module
OLAP Building Blocks

You should now be able

Dimensional Modeling
Features of Dimensional Modeling
Codd Rules for OLAP

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 Quiz

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Question 1

1. Process to see low level of information from

aggregated level is
a) Drill Down
b) Drill Up
c) Drill Across
d) Drill Through

Answer: A

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Question 2
2. Lowest level of information stored in Dimensional
model is called as
a) Fact
b) Granularity
c) Measure
d) None of the above

Answer: B

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Question 3
3. Basis of OLAP system is <>
a) Measure
b) Fact
c) Dimension
d) Multi Dimensional Model

Answer: D

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Question 4
4. _____ is a data structure that allows faster analysis
of data.
a) Measure
b) OLAP Cube
c) Dimension
d) None of the above

Answer: B

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Question 5
5. Two attributes in a same dimension and same
hierarchy are connected by more than one
alternate path
a) Convergence
b) Cross Dimension
c) Conformed Dimension
d) None of the above

Answer: A

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 References

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References

Publications Publications

Data warehouse and OLAP The OLAP Solutions Building

Concepts, Architecture and Multidimensional Information
Solutions by Robert
Wrember & Christian Systems Second Edition by
Koncilia Erik Thomsen, Wiley
dreamtech India Pvt. Ltd.
The OLAP Report by Nigel 2002 ISBN 81-265-0275-4
Pendse and Richard Creeth
URLs Training Programs

Library:
Tek-tips reporting solutions forum
http://www.dmreview.com/
http://www.dwinfocenter.org

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 Thank You

Renu Singh
Technical Lead

renu.singh@wipro.com

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