OLAP is a category of software that allows users to analyze information from multiple database systems at the same time. It is a technology that enables analysts to extract and view business data from different points of view. OLAP stands for Online Analytical Processing.
Analysts frequently need to group, aggregate and join data. These operations in relational databases are resource intensive. With OLAP data can be pre-calculated and pre-aggregated, making analysis faster.
OLAP databases are divided into one or more cubes. The cubes are designed in such a way that creating and viewing reports become easy.
