Although the multidimensional spreadsheet has attracted a lot
of interest since it empowers the end user to analyze business
data, this has not replaced traditional analysis by means of a
managed query environment. These environments use stored
procedures and predefined complex queries to provide
packaged analysis tools. Such tools often make it possible for
the end-user to query in terms of domain-specific business
data. These applications often use raw data access tools and
optimize the access patterns depending on the back end
database server. In addition, there are query environments
(e.g., Microsoft Access) that help build ad hoc SQL queries
by “pointing-and-clicking”. Finally, there are a variety of
data mining tools that are often used as front end tools to data
warehouses.
5. Database Design