Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a vital component of today's business intelligence strategies, giving users the ability to perform analysis that is comprehensive, dynamic, and truly interactive. With OLAP, users can selectively extract corporate data, then view it across multiple dimensions, and from multiple different perspectives, to gain greater insights, uncover relationships, and identify key patterns and trends.

WebFOCUS satisfies the broadest range of analytical needs, empowering any user to access and manipulate data - from novice users performing simple queries, to business analysts conducting complex analysis. It offers a robust combination of reporting tools and OLAP capabilities, so users can perform analysis that is in-depth and unhindered, slicing and dicing information in an almost unlimited number of ways – with or without a cube.

WebFOCUS offers a wide range of OLAP capabilities, providing users with the tools they need to:

• Easily browse and navigate data, field lists, and cube hierarchies, accelerating searches, and allowing for fast and easy location of information.
• Perform a wide range of OLAP functions, such as sorts, pivots, filtering, or calculations, through an intuitive and simple graphical user interface.
• Conduct in-depth, fully unified analysis against over 300 structured and unstructured information sources – even those sources that have not been optimized for OLAP - including multidimensional databases such as Oracle Essbase, Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, and SAP BW.
• Create sophisticated information visualizations at run-time, without the need for a pre-built data model. Our visual OLAP features allow users to do more than just slice and dice data - they provide highly sophisticated graphical representations of multi-dimensional information to enhance insight and expedite analyses by enabling more rapid and accurate observations.
• Utilize portable OLAP functionality while they're "on the go", interacting with and analyzing enterprise information through their smartphones or other handheld devices.
• Output reports as Excel spreadsheets or Pivot Tables, so corporate data can be analyzed using a familiar tool.

This is an example of the more intuitive approach WebFOCUS provides for OLAP analysis through the proven use of sophisticated information visualizations. Click on the image to see a short demonstration.