OLAP

The term On Line Analytical Processing dates from 1993. It was introduced by E.F. Codd, the father of relational databases.

On Line Analytical Processing, or OLAP, is an approach to quickly providing answers to analytical queries that are multidimensional in nature. OLAP is part of the broader category business intelligence, which also includes Extract transform load (ETL), relational reporting and data mining.

Originally, 12 OLAP rules were defined to characterize this technology. OLAP products tend to conform to these. The 12 rules are as follows:

• Multidimensional model
• Transparency of the server
• Accessibility
• Stable access performance
• Client server architecture
• Generic Dimensionality
• Management of data sparsity
• Multi-user
• Operation on dimension
• Intuitive manipulation of data
• Flexible posting and editing
• Multiple dimensions and levels

Today these 12 rules have been expanded to 18 major rules and up to 300 in total!