CR XI - OLAP CUBES?

[OrionStar]

How are OLAP Cubes "created?"

Is this like the Relational DB whereas a DBA would need to create the Cube FIRST, before any queries can be done?

Just trying to delve into the world of OLAP.

Thx

Thanks:

MV

"What would you attempt to do... if you knew ... you could not fail?

 

[paulmarr]

Hi OrionStar,

Yes - you are correct - the cube is created outside of OLAP Intelligence/Crystal Analysis/Crystal Reports - and then any of these tools can connect to the cube to report off of it.

As far as I know - SQL Server is the type of cube compatible with the Crystal tool set. Not sure if any others are supported.

Cheers,
paulmarr

 

[OrionStar]

Thank you for your input. So is "speed" the only reason here use of cubes? I'm trying to understand the appeal? Relational databases seem to be able to store much more data that a cube, but I don't know that much about them. So far all I can see is that a cube appears to contain summarized data for us in "crosstab" like analysis. This seems like it would be quickly processed?

Any one else know more about cubes and their reason for being?

thanks

Thanks:

MV

"What would you attempt to do... if you knew ... you could not fail?