ONLINE ANALYTICAL PROCESSING (OLAP)
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP). Supports Multidimensional Data
Analysis, enabling users to view the same data in different ways using multiple
dimensions.
Each aspect of information such as - Product , Cost, Pricing, Region, or Time period - represents a different dimension.
e.g. A Product Manager could use multidimensional Data Analysis tools to learn:-
How many of a particular item were sold in Southeast region in March 2010
How that compares with the previous month and the previous March,
How it compares with the Sales Forecast.
OLAP enables users to obtain Online answers to Adhoc questions in very large Databases, such as Sales figures for multiple years.