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Q4 How Do Organizations Use Reporting Applications? 357

A B C D E F G
1
2
3 Store Sales Net Store Type
4 Product Family Deluxe Supermarket Gourmet Supermarket Mid-Size Grocery Small Grocery Supermarket Grand Total
$1,409.50
$2,392.83
$29,358.98
$16,751.71
$8,119.05
$685.89
Figure 9-17 5 6 Drink $70,276.11 $20,026.18 $10,392.19 $6,109.72 $138,960.67 $245,764.87
Food
Example Grocery Sales OLAP 7 Non-Consumable $18,884.24 $5,064.79 $2,813.73 $1,534.90 $36,189.40 $64,487.05
Report 8 Grand Total $97,279.40 $27,483.80 $14,615.42 $8,330.51 $191,901.77 $339,610.90
A presentation like that in Figure 9-17 is often called an OLAP cube, or sometimes simply
a cube. The reason for this term is that some software products show these displays using three
axes, like a cube in geometry. The origin of the term is unimportant here, however. Just know
that an OLAP cube and an OLAP report are the same thing.
The OLAP report in Figure 9-17 was generated by Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services
and is displayed in an Excel pivot table. The data was taken from a sample instructional data-
base, called Food Mart, that is provided with SQL Server.
It is possible to display OLAP cubes in many ways besides with Excel. Some third-party ven-
dors provide more extensive graphical displays. For more information about such products, check
for OLAP vendors and products at the Data Warehousing Review at http://dwreview.com/OLAP/
index.html. For an example of a superb, easy-to-use OLAP tool, visit www.TableauSoftware.com.
Tableau has a liberal student-use policy as well.
As stated earlier, the distinguishing characteristic of an OLAP report is that the user can
alter the format of the report. Figure 9-18 shows such an alteration. Here, the user added an-
other dimension, Store Country and Store State, to the horizontal display. Product-family sales
are now broken out by store location. Observe that the sample data only includes stores in the
United States, and only in the western states of California, Oregon, and Washington.
With an OLAP report, it is possible to drill down into the data. This term means to further
divide the data into more detail. In Figure 9-19, for example, the user has drilled down into
the stores located in California; the OLAP report now shows sales data for the four cities in
California that have stores.
Notice another difference between Figures 9-18 and 9-19. The user has not only drilled
down, she has also changed the order of the dimensions. Figure 9-18 shows Product Family and
then store location within Product Family. Figure 9-19 shows store location and then Product
Family within store location.
Both displays are valid and useful, depending on the user’s perspective. A product manager
might like to see product families first and then store location data. A sales manager might like
to see store locations first and then product data. OLAP reports provide both perspectives, and
the user can switch between them while viewing the report.

A B C D E F G H I
1
2
3 Store Sales Net Store Type
4 Product Family Store Country Store State Deluxe Superma Gourmet Supermar Mid-Size Groce Small Grocery Supermarket Grand Total
5 Drink USA CA $2,392.83 $227.38 $5,920.76 $8,540.97
6 OR $4,438.49 $2,862.45 $7,300.94
7 WA $3,680.56 $1,409.50 $458.51 $7,968.50 $13,517.07
8 USA Total $8,119.05 $2,392.83 $1,409.50 $685.89 $16,751.71 $29,358.98
9 Drink Total $8,119.05 $2,392.83 $1,409.50 $685.89 $16,751.71 $29,358.98
10 Food USA CA $20,026.18 $1,960.53 $47,226.11 $69,212.82
11 OR $37,778.35 $23,818.87 $61,597.22
12 WA $32,497.76 $10,392.19 $4,149.19 $67,915.69 $114,954.83
13 USA Total $70,276.11 $20,026.18 $10,392.19 $6,109.72 $138,960.67 $245,764.87
14 Food Total $70,276.11 $20,026.18 $10,392.19 $6,109.72 $138,960.67 $245,764.87
15 Non-Consumable USA CA $5,064.79 $474.35 $12,344.49 $17,883.63
$6,428.53
Figure 9-18 16 OR $10,177.89 $2,813.73 $1,060.54 $17,416.38 $16,606.41
$29,997.01
$8,706.36
WA
17
USA Total
Example of Expanded Grocery 18 Non-Consumable Total $18,884.24 $5,064.79 $2,813.73 $1,534.90 $36,189.40 $64,487.05
$36,189.40
$64,487.05
19
$5,064.79
$18,884.24
$1,534.90
$2,813.73
Sales OLAP Report 20 Grand Total $97,279.40 $27,483.80 $14,615.42 $8,330.51 $191,901.77 $339,610.90