OASUS: FALL 2008 Introduction to SAS OLAP: A Solution for the Curious and Impatient Presented by: Josée Ranger-Lacroix SAS Institute (Canada) Inc.

22 Introduction to SAS OLAP - Agenda What is OLAP? OLAP TERMINOLOGY SAS OLAP Tools SAS OLAP Applications: A demonstration

33 Introduction to SAS OLAP What is OLAP? OLAP Terminology SAS OLAP Tools SAS OLAP Applications: A demonstration

44 What Is OLAP? Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) is an industry-accepted reporting technology that provides high-performance analysis and easy reporting on large volumes of data. OLAP applications provide the following features: offer high-performance access to large amounts of presummarized data give users the power to retrieve answers to multidimensional business questions quickly and easily provide slice-and-dice views of multiple relationships in large quantities of presummarized data

55 When you create and use summarized tables, application performance can be substantially improved.  Short response time for analyzing and modeling complex relationships The summarized tables eliminate the need to run summaries at execution time. The presummarized data must be refreshed only when the underlying data changes.  Ability to provide “just-in-time” information for effective decision-making Why Use Presummarized Data?

66 OLAP Cubes Central to the OLAP storage process are cubes. A cube is a set of data that is organized and structured in a hierarchical, multidimensional arrangement, often with numerous dimensions and levels of data.

77 What Is an OLAP Cube? An OLAP cube has the following characteristics: is a specialized storage facility that enables data to be pulled for storage in a matrix type of format enables users to quickly retrieve multiple levels of presummarized data through a multidimensional view organizes data in a hierarchical arrangement cubes also contain measures, which are based on numeric analysis columns in the input tables. These numeric values are summarized and stored in the cube for quick access and analysis during a query. MDX is the standard language to query a multi-dimensional database and it’s cubes. the output of an OLAP query is typically displayed in a matrix (or pivot) format. The dimensions form the rows and columns of the matrix; the measures form the values. pivot

88 CategoryGroupYearQuarterQuantity ClothesEclipse Clothing ClothesEclipse Clothing ClothesEclipse Clothing ClothesEclipse Clothing ClothesGreen Tomato ClothesGreen Tomato ClothesGreen Tomato ClothesGreen Tomato ShoesEclipse Shoes ShoesEclipse Shoes ShoesEclipse Shoes ShoesEclipse Shoes ShoesTracker Shoes ShoesTracker Shoes ShoesTracker Shoes ShoesTracker Shoes CategoryGroupYearQuantity ClothesEclipse Clothing ClothesGreen Tomato ShoesEclipse Shoes ShoesTracker Shoes Aggregation An aggregation is the summarization of one or more levels....

99 SAS OLAP Cubes A SAS OLAP cube contains summarized information. NWAY Crossing Aggregations OLAP Cube

10 The Time Dimension OLAP Terminology Dimensions consist of Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4... YQ Time Dimension Name Topic of a dimension

11 OLAP Terminology Dimensions consist of Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4... YEAR QUARTER YQ Time The Time Dimension Dimension Name Topic of a dimension LevelA level of detail within a dimension

12 OLAP Terminology Dimensions consist of YQ Time Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4... Increased Level of Detail The Time Dimension Dimension Name Topic of a dimension LevelA level of detail within a dimension HierarchyOrder of the levels of detail within a dimension

13 OLAP Terminology Dimensions consist of Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q3Q4... YQ Time The Time Dimension Dimension Name Topic of a dimension LevelA level of detail within a dimension HierarchyOrder of the levels of detail within a dimension MemberIndividual category values Q2

14 JulAugSep OctNovDec AprMayJun JanFebMar JulAugSep OctNovDec Dimensions and Hierarchies A dimension can have multiple hierarchies. YQ Time Hierarchy Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q4 The Time Dimension YM Time Hierarchy AprMayJun JanFebMar...

15 SAS OLAP Cube Components The components of a SAS OLAP cube can be logically organized into dimensions, hierarchies, and levels. Cube Dimension Measure Hierarchy Level

16 OLAP Operations Slice: A slice is a subset of a multi-dimensional array corresponding to a single value for one or more members of the dimensions not in the subset. Dice: The dice operation is a slice on more than two dimensions of a data cube (or more than two consecutive slices). Drill Down/Up: Drilling down or up is a specific analytical technique whereby the user navigates among levels of data ranging from the most summarized (up) to the most detailed (down). Roll-up: A roll-up involves computing all of the data relationships for one or more dimensions. To do this, a computational relationship or formula might be defined. Pivot: To change the dimensional orientation of a report or page display

17 Data Warehouse and OLAP systems  Usually based on relational technology  Stores tactical information that answer “who” and “what”  Gives you information about the past events  Uses a multidimensional view of aggregate data  Provide quick access to strategic information to answer “who” and “what” but also “what if” and “why”  Enables decision-making about future decision OLAP and Data Warehouse are complementary. Data Warehouse stores and manages data; OLAP transforms Data Warehouse data into strategic information.

18 Who uses OLAP and What for? Finance Sales Marketing Manufacturing Activity-based costing (allocations) Financial performance analysis Financial modeling Sales analysis and forecasting Market research analysis Sales forecasting Promotions analysis Customer analysis Market/Customer segmentation Production planning Defect analysis

19 OLAP 3 Key Features  Multidimensional views of data  Calculation-intensive capabilities  Time Intelligence

20 OLAP Benefits Increase the productivity of business managers, developers and whole organizations Flexibility Enables managers to model problems More control and timely access to strategic information=more effective decision-making IT developpers can deliver applications faster Reduces application backlog Reduced traffic on transaction systems With the ability to model real business problem, businesses are able to respond more quickly to market’s demands = improved revenue and profitability

21 Codd’s 12 Rules 1.Multidimensional conceptual view 2.Transparency 3.Accessibility 4.Consistent reporting performance 5.Client/server architecture 6.Generic dimensionality 7.Dynamic sparse matrix handling 8.Multi-user support 9.Unrestricted cross-dimensional operations 10.Intuitive data manipulation 11.Flexible reporting 12.Unlimited dimensions and aggregation levels

22 Introduction to SAS OLAP What is OLAP? OLAP Terminology SAS OLAP Tools SAS OLAP Applications: A demonstration

23 SAS OLAP Server As part of the SAS Intelligence Platform, the SAS OLAP Server is a standards-compliant OLAP data source that retrieves results for Multidimensional eXpression (MDX) queries. The SAS OLAP Server does the following: quickly delivers summarized data to business intelligence applications in a format that enables on-the-fly processing and reporting lowers the burden on IT resources by simplifying ad hoc reporting and data summaries uses common metadata for efficiently developing and delivering reports across the enterprises

24 For the Modeler: SAS OLAP Cube Studio SAS OLAP Cube Studio is a Java interface for defining and building OLAP cubes in SAS ® 9. The Cube Designer wizard, which guides the user through the process of creating and registering a cube, is the main feature of SAS OLAP Cube Studio and is also available in SAS Data Integration Studio.

25 Using the Cube Designer Wizard The Cube Designer wizard is used for the following: create and edit cube definitions that are stored in the active metadata repository build cubes based on the stored definitions

26 For the User: Viewing Cube Data In SAS ® 9 there are several options for viewing cube data, including the following: SAS Enterprise Guide SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office SAS Information Delivery Portal’s Visual Data Explorer SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java SAS Web OLAP Viewer for.NET SAS Web Report Studio SAS OLAP cubes can also be viewed in third-party OLAP viewers such as Microsoft Excel.

27 For the User: SAS Web Report Studio SAS Web Report Studio is a reporting application designed for business users who want to view, author, and share reports on the Web.

28 OLAP Data in SAS Web Report Studio Multidimensional data sources provide different ways to interact with reports. If you want to…Then… Rotate the tableSelect the data item and select Rotate table. Drill downSelect next to the data item. ExpandSelect next to the data item. View detail data represented by a value, row, or column Select the value, row heading, column heading, or name of the innermost member.

29 For the User: SAS OLAP Analyzer SAS Enterprise Guide includes an OLAP Analyzer that enables you to view and analyze data that is stored in a SAS OLAP cube. Table View Graph View Cube View Manager Task Buttons

30 The OLAP Analyzer Using the OLAP Analyzer, you can accomplish the following: interact with a cube using tables and/or graphs display, create, and edit measures filter the data create bookmarks set preferences use the View Designer Wizard to create a new OLAP view edit, check, and submit MDX queries

31 For the User: SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java has the following characteristics: is a Web-based application for viewing SAS OLAP cubes provides an easy-to-use interface from which you can select a data source, view the data, and customize your view is similar to the Visual Data Explorer found in the SAS Information Delivery Portal

32 The Main SAS Web OLAP Viewer Page The main SAS Web OLAP Viewer page can contain the following elements: Main Menu and Toolbar Drill Path and Applied Filter Viewers Data Viewer(s) Query, Bookmarks, or Navigator Panel

33 For the User: Microsoft Excel PivotTable Reports The SAS OLAP Server exposes OLAP data using the OLE DB for OLAP standard. SAS OLAP cubes are read into Microsoft Excel using Excel PivotTable reports. To read a SAS OLAP cube, the following conditions must exist: The SAS OLAP Server must be running and accessible. Read and ReadMetadata permissions must be granted.

34 Populating the PivotTable Report The PivotTable Field list is used to populate the table with data from the SAS OLAP cube.

35 Introduction to SAS OLAP What is OLAP? OLAP Terminology 6.2: SAS OLAP Tools SAS OLAP Applications: A demonstration

36 SAS OLAP Benefits  Easy-to-use interfaces for building and maintaining OLAP cubes.  Cubes can be created based on any data stored in any database on any operating system.  OLAP cubes can be stored on any major hardware platform, from Microsoft Server 2003, HP/UX, AIX and Solaris, up to z/OS on mainframes.  OLAP data storage and navigation are integrated into the SAS BI reporting environment.  Fully compliant with Microsoft's OLE DB for OLAP standard so users can choose their favorite front-end for accessing summarized information.  Full-featured interactive OLAP client applications allow users to take advantage of OLAP functions as needed to match their needs and skills.

37 Conclusion Thank you! Questions?