Dealing with Complex Reports in OLAP Applications

Abstract

Slice&dice and drilling operations are key concepts for ad-hoc data analysis in state-of- the-art data warehouse and OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) systems. While most data analysis operations can be executed on that basis from a functional point of view, the representation requirements of applications in the SSDB (Scientific&Statistical DataBase) area by far exceed the means typically provided by OLAP systems. In the first part of the paper, we contrast the data analysis and representation approaches in the OLAP and SSDB field and develop a generalized model for the representation of complex reports in data warehouse environments. The second part of the paper describes the implementation of this model from a report definition, management and execution perspective. The research and implementation work was executed in the data warehouse project at GfK Marketing Services, a topranked international market research company. Various examples from the market research application domain will demonstrate the benefits of the work over other approaches in the data warehouse and OLAP domain.