ISBN 9783843901352

978-3-8439-0135-2, Reihe Informatik

Bernhard Jäcksch
A Plan For OLAP: Optimization Of Financial Planning Queries In Data Warehouse Systems

201 Seiten, Dissertation Technische Universität Dresden (2011), Softcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

One important factor distinguishing an operative Data Warehouse (DWH) from a traditional Data Warehouse is full integration into the operational data cycle and high update rates. Part of the update volume and integration into operative processes is due to planning functionality. For many companies, planning becomes a vital element of their decision support strategy and is of utmost importance for day-to-day operations. This thesis aims to provide an in-depth look at planning functionality in a DWH context. It discusses the complete stack from application to execution platform from top to bottom. We address multiple problems that occur with the integration of planning into the database layer of a modern DWH stack. This includes a changing usage paradigm compared to traditional On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) queries, development of an OLAP model with support for planning and extension of query languages to support planning functionality. In addition, we discuss implementation on a modern database infrastructure for efficient processing of planning queries. Traditionally, the main focus of a DWH is analyzing historical data using ad-hoc queries and reports. Updates and transformations of data are done via Extract Transform Load (ETL) processes that are transparent to the user who issues queries or consumes reports. In contrast, planning is a cyclic process where a user not only pulls or queries data, but modifies data and stores or publishes results in the DWH again. One example is to generate planned targets that can be used to compare between actual and target values. Accordingly, including planning functionality is one reason why the DWH becomes operative and shifts from the aforementioned query paradigm to a novel paradigm we call Query-Modify-Publish.