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Unit 3: Dimensional Data Warehouse

ROLAP can be limited by SQL functionalities. As, ROLAP technology mainly relies on Notes
SQL statements and SQL statements do not fit all needs (like it’s not easy to do complex
queries in SQL), thus what ROLAP can do is traditionally limited by what SQL can do.

3.5.3 HOLAP

HOLAP technologies combine the advantages of MOLAP and ROLAP. The first product to provide
HOLAP storage was Holos but with time the technology also became available in other
commercial products such as Microsoft Analysis Services (MAS), Oracle Database OLAP Option,
MicroStrategy etc.

Task Compare and contrast the MOLAP and ROLAP.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

18. OLAP stands for .......................................
19. OLAP can be broadly divided into ....................... and ..................................
20. In MOLAP, data is stored in a ..............................
21. ............................ can leverage functionalities inherent in the relational database as they sit
on top of the relational database.
22. .................................... technologies combine the advantages of MOLAP and ROLAP.

Case Study Lolopop: Automated Data Warehouse

he essential concept of a data warehouse is to provide the ability to gather data into
optimized databases without regard for the generating applications or platforms.
TData warehousing can be formally defined as “the coordinated, architected, and
periodic copying of data from various sources into an environment optimized for analytical
and informational processing”.

The Challenge
Meaningful analysis of data requires us to unite information from many sources in many
forms, including: images; text; audio/video recordings; databases; forms, etc. The
information sources may never have been intended to be used for data analysis purposes.
These sources may have different formats, contain inaccurate or outdated information, be
of low transcription quality, be mislabelled or be incompatible.

New sources of information may be needed periodically and some elements of information
may be one time only artefacts.
A data warehouse system designed for analysis must be capable of assimilating these data
elements from many disparate sources into a common form. Correctly labelling and
describing search keys and transcribing data in a form for analysis is critical. Qualifying

Contd....

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