Relational versus multidimensional databases as a foundation for online analytical processing Lessons from two case studies

The huge volume of data stored in organisational databases is no longer seen as a data management problem, but rather as a potential company asset to be exploited for information. As a result there is renewed interest by IT practitioners in data models and database structures. Multi-dimensional forms in particular have joined their relational counterparts as legitimate tools for extracting vital business information from company data. This paper compares the conceptual differences between two common methods used for exploiting company data, namely multidimensional on-line analytic processing (MOLAP) and relational on-line analytic