Role of OLAP and Packaged Analytic Solutions
While discussing financial dimensional models in the context of relational databases, it is worth noting that multidimensional OLAP vendors have long played a role in this arena. OLAP products have been used extensively for financial reporting, budgeting, and consolidation applications. Relational dimensional models often feed financial OLAP cubes. OLAP cubes can deliver fast query performance that is critical for executive usage. The data volumes, especially for general ledger balances or financial statement aggregates, do not typically overwhelm the practical size constraints of a multidimensional product. OLAP is well suited to handle complicated organizational rollups, as well as complex calculations, including inter-row manipulations. Most OLAP vendors provide finance-specific capabilities, such as financial functions (for example, net present value or compound growth), the appropriate handling of financial statement data (in the expected...