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Introduction
Sage Intelligence Reporting is a business intelligence reporting tool that incorporates a number of modules including many innovative features. Sage Intelligence Reporting enables you to connect to any supported ODBC compliant database and extract the data into Microsoft Excel where the data can be summarized and analyzed using Microsoft Excel’s extensive data analysis tools. The Microsoft Excel workbook and its workings are then linked to Sage Intelligence Reporting to create a permanently linked Microsoft Excel template. This enables you to extract the data to a Microsoft Excel workbook in the way you want it to be presented.
The OLAP Module (OLAP) works with, and is dependent on, the Connector, Report Manager and Microsoft Excel being licensed to a user’s machine.
On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)
OLAP is more than an acronym that means Online Analytical Processing. OLAP is a category of software tools that provides analysis of data stored in a database. With OLAP, analysts, managers, and executives can gain insight into data through fast, consistent, interactive access to a wide variety of possible views. Stated another way, OLAP is a category of applications and technologies for collecting, managing, processing, and presenting multidimensional data for analysis and management purposes. A widely adopted definition for OLAP used today in five key words is: Fast Analysis of Shared Multidimensional Information (FASMI).
Fast refers to the speed that an OLAP system is able to deliver most responses to the end user
Analysis refers to the ability of an OLAP system to manage any business logic and statistical analysis relevant for the application and user. In addition, the system must allow users to define new ad hoc calculations as part of the analysis and report without having to program them
Shared refers to the ability of an OLAP system being able to implement all security requirements necessary for confidentiality and the concurrent update locking at an appropriate level when multiple write access is required
Multidimensional refers to a concept that is the primary requirement to OLAP. An OLAP system must provide a multidimensional view of data. This includes supporting hierarchies and multiple hierarchies
Information refers to all of the data and derived data needed, wherever the data resides and however much of the data is relevant for the application