OLAP Data

Online analytical processing (OLAP) allows you to access aggregated and organized data from business data sources, such as data warehouses, in a multidimensional structure called a cube.

The structure of data in multidimensional cubes gives better performance for OLAP queries than data organized in relational tables. The basic unit of a multidimensional cube is called a measure. Measures are the units of data that are being analyzed. For example, a corporation that operates hardware stores wants to analyze revenue and discounts for the different products it sells. The measures are the number of units sold, revenue, and the sum of any discounts. The measures are organized along hierarchies. In this example, a three dimensional cube could have these dimensions: time, store, and products. Think of these dimensions as forming the logical x, y, and z axis of a three-dimensional, virtual cube.

Reports

Reports are documents based on olap data created with Microsoft Analysis Services. Reports enable users to perform queries against this data in an intuitive and flexible manner, without the need to know the details of the underlying data or complex query languages.