| |
| |
|
Go Back | About | Contact | Web Design News | |
|
Defining OLAP Solutions and Data Warehouse design
This tutorial covers OLAP solutions used by Data warehouses and understanding Data Warehouse design. The enterprise needs to ask itself certain fundamental questions before actually launching on the process of designing the data warehouse. It must begin with a conviction that a data warehouse would really help its business and the return on investment will make it worth it. Defining OLAP Solutions The data warehouse offloads data from a multitude of sources. The cleaned, validated and loaded data is voluminous and daunting. This data needs to be organized, categorized and arranged in meaningful order for analytical purposes. OLAP solutions are specifically designed to cater to this need. OLAP solutions used by Data warehouses are: Multidimensional views of data. Data in the data warehouse is organized into subject oriented categories and tables. Fact tables are constructed and linked to various dimensional tables in star or snowflake schemas or combinations of them to form multidimensional views of data. Cubes are built using these multidimensional schemas. Rapid browsing and querying then becomes possible. These views are independent of the way in which data is stored in the data warehouse. Interactive query and analysis of data is another OLAP solution that enables users drill down, drill up and slice data by using multiple passes. Users can drill down to successive lower levels of detail or roll up to higher levels of summarization and aggregation. Analytical modeling is an OLAP tool that is a calculation engine for deriving ratios, variances etc., involving measurements and numerical data across many dimensions. Functional models are made available by using OLAP for forecasting, trend analysis etc. They support users in data analysis. Graphical OLAP tools are used to display data in 2D or 3D cross tabs and charts and graphs with easy pivoting of axis. This is important for users who need to analyze data from different perspectives and the analysis of one perspective leads to business questions that need to be examined from other perspectives. Rapid response to queries is a must in any analysis of data and the measure of success for the OLAP tool. Nigel Pendse and Richard Creeth, authors of the OLAP Report developed the FASMI (Fast Analysis of Shared Multidimensional Information) test to judge whether or not an application qualifies to an OLAP tool. Their contention was that an OLAP tool should provide fast browsing capabilities (< five seconds), should contain analytical tools both for the developer and the end user; the cubes must be able to handle the security requirements of sharing confidential information and it should present data multi-dimensionally. Multi dimensional data storage engine stores data in arrays. These arrays are logical representations of the business dimensions. Understanding Data Warehouse design At a very global level, construction of the data warehouse is a business project by itself. The enterprise needs to ask itself certain fundamental questions before actually launching on the process of designing the data warehouse. It must begin with a conviction that a data warehouse would really help its business and the return on investment will make it worth it. The general questions that are asked may be as below... Do we need a data warehouse? How will it help the business? What will it mean in terms of cost? What are the current data analysis methodologies being adopted? In what way are they deficient? Will setting up the data warehouse help in reducing these deficiencies? What kind of reporting and analysis do we really want? What is that we are getting now? Will such data analysis make the business more efficient? Will it help the business improve its services and customer relations? Once the replies to the above questions have been asked, the organization needs to examine other very crucial issues that will determine the wrap and hoof of the data warehouse that is being set up. What are the kinds of data that are being generated by the enterprise? What kinds of data storage technologies are currently being used to backup and store historical data? What other external sources of information do we need to tap to make the data in the data warehouse meaningful for analysis? What kind of hardware and software will be required to set up this data warehouse? Who will be the personnel to handle the process of creating the data warehouse? Which departments will benefit from the data being created? Will the data warehouse be scaleable? How will it connect to the different data sources for data? How will we ensure that quality data is generated? What kinds of tools will be deployed to support end user needs for reports and analytics? The answers that emerge from these questions will be a set of business requirements. These requirements will determine the kind of data warehouse that will be ultimately set up in the enterprise. The first steps would be to define the global parameters that will shape the design of the data warehouse. The design can be a top down approach as recommended by Bill Inmon or a bottom up approach recommended by Ralph Kimball. It can be a combination of the two called the Hybrid approach or it can be a federated approach. Let us have a brief look at what these different approaches mean. For more visualization of this article along with the screen shots and complete free training tutorials on Microsoft Analysis Services visit http://www.exforsys.com/content/category/17/253/332/ Exforsys is a community of developers specializing in C, C++, C#, Java, J2EE, .NET, PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel, Oracle Apps., Data warehousing, Oracle/SQL Server/DB2 and Testing. Please visit http://www.exforsys.com for more tutorials, for IT Interview questions visit http://www.geekinterview.com, for articles and resources visit http://www.itquestionbank.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Software - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
C++ Function Templates C++ Function templates are those functions which can handle different data types without separate code for each of them. For a similar operation on several kinds of data types, a programmer need not write different versions by overloading a function. Microsoft Great Plains: Annual Enhancement Program - How To Be Re-Enrolled Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is mid and even corporate market ERP and as being relatively complex and difficult to do self-support in-house, Microsoft Business Solutions requires you first to have so-called VAR of record, or your MBS partner and second - pay annual enhancement program, which is typically 16% of you software price list. Enhancement program allows you to get new version of the product as well as purchase and add new modules you might need. Microsoft Great Plains: carpet, textile, fabric, felt distributor - implementation overview In this small article we will show you the possible way of deploying Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains for the market niche of large, mid-size and small reselling and distribution business in carpeting and floor covering, textile & fabric. We will not be talking about fabric production, but rather cutting for the end-user or small retailer. CRM 101: Customer Relationship Management for Beginners Customer Relationship Management, abbreviated "CRM," is the term for a business strategy that is designed to improve customer service. CRM is also designed to increase customer satisfaction and gain new customers, thus increasing a business' revenue. Not All Project Management Software is Created Equal The purpose of Project Management Software is to provide an environment in which a group of people can work together on joint projects. Most projects involve the development and implementation of new ideas, and these ideas have to be presented, evaluated, and revised. Microsoft Great Plains Implementation in Russia - Overview for Consultant Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP platform in the USA, Canada (including French speaking Quebec/Montreal), U.K. Microsoft Great Plains e-Commerce - additional considerations for programmer Microsoft Great Plains, designed back in 1990th as database transferable and graphical platform independent ERP application - Great Plains Dynamics/Dynamics C/S+/eEnterprise. For eCommerce developer the most important is to understand Great Plains tables structure and business processes in Sales Order Processing, Accounts Receivables, Inventory Control (inventory items allocation, backordering, etc), posting to Bank Reconciliation and General Ledger. Microsoft Great Plains customization - Freight Forwarding/Transportation industry example Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains version 8.5, 8. Dashboard Widgets for Windows For a windows user like me, just can watch with envy the new eye candy features in Mac OS X and wondering how I can have the same feature on my belove windows.Before Apple introduce dashboard in their latest Mac OS X, most of mac users already can have widget on their desktop using Konfabulator by Pixoria Inc. 10 Ways to Learn a Software Following tips help you to learn a software in lesser time and in an efficient manner:1. After installing a software package, look for any README file in the installed folder. Fast Car Knoppix Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past two years has been a joy. Two terms to describe this distribution, simple, elegance. Did You Ever Want to Completely Erase Everything on Your Computer? Did you ever want to erase everything on your computer? This is a program I found that does that for you quickly and easily.Active@ KillDisk is a hard drive eraser and is powerful and compact DOS software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. Microsoft CRM or Siebel Siebel is traditional CRM market leader, however and mostly due to recession 200-2003, Siebel lost sizable portion of CRM market to new tiger, such as Microsoft CRM. Microsoft CRM s recent (2001) CRM answer from Microsoft and attempt top get market share from traditional vendors: Siebel, Oracle, Onyx. Microsoft RMS - Great Plains Integration - Overview For IT Specialist Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS) are getting new market share due to the Microsoft strong marketing campaign. Both products: Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft RMS are coming from the same Microsoft subdivision - Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), however due to the fact that both products were bought by Microsoft from different vendors, the integration between the two is not an easy thing. Crystal Reports For Microsoft RMS - Overview For Developer/Report Designer If you are software developer or database administrator - we would like to give you the clues on Crystal Report creation for Microsoft RMSDatabase: Microsoft SQL Server or MSDE - this means that you can deploy native SQL driver for connection or use ODBC for flexibility. Tables Structure - it is extremely self-explanatory: Customer, Transaction (invoices, returns, layaways and others), TransactionAmount, Cashier, Tender to give you examples Links - Usually master table has ID column and Transaction-related table links by [Entity]ID column: Transaction. The Dreaded Paper Label - Should it be Used? While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be a cost effective solution for printing on your media, there are solid reasons why you should consider other options.1) Hand application of paper labels can be time consuming and frustrating. Demand More From Your Lead Tracking Software An integral part of any quality CRM system is lead tracking software. This is the part of the system that helps you gather customer data from your sales force. SSH (SCP) Send Files from Windows to Your Linux Box Not all of us have the luxury of working both at home and at work on a UNIX based system. However that doesn't mean you can't transfer files safely and securely between the two systems. Huddle Up; Groupware on Three It could just be me, but my experiences with document collaboration remind me of a football game. It sounds crazy, I know, but working with a group and sending emails off to other members of the group caries with it that familiar uneasy sensation of Thanksgiving Day football games, where I often play quarterback and just as often wonder whether members of my family will catch the pass, and if they do, what they will do with the ball. Call Alert Notifications - Free Answering Machine Software for PCs If you're online using a dialup Internet connection, you'll probably want to download one of the free call alert software applications like Callwave or AOL Call Alert that can answer, record, and forward incoming calls to your home, office or cell phone. In fact, if you run a small business, Call Wave also offers a dedicated business fax service too.
|
ChicagoAnimation's Acquisitions: Market Polls - 1pennyStock.com
Sponsors: Paving | VTL's | Religious Statues
