A Conceptual Model and Algebra for On-Line Analytical Processing in Decision Support Databases

Data warehousing and On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) are two of the most significant new technologies in the business data processing arena. A data warehouse, or decision support database, can be defined as a “very large” repository of historical data pertaining to an organization. OLAP refers to the technique of performing complex analysis over the information stored in a data warehouse. The complexity of queries required to support OLAP applications makes it difficult to implement using standard relational database technology. Moreover, currently there is no standard conceptual model for OLAP. There clearly is a need for such a model and an algebra as evidenced by the numerous SQL extensions offered by many vendors of OLAP products. In this paper we address this issue by proposing a model of a data cube and an algebra to support OLAP operations on this cube. The model we present is simple and intuitive, and the algebra provides a means to concisely express complex OLAP queries.

• 저널Information Systems Research · 12(1) · 83–102
• 토픽Advanced Database Systems and Queries · Computer Networks and Communications
• DOI10.1287/isre.12.1.83.9715
• 저자Helen Thomas, Anindya Datta