OLAP and Data Mining

Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a technology that uses multidimensional data representations, called cubes, to provide rapid access to data warehouse data. Cubes model data in the dimension and fact tables in the data warehouse and provide sophisticated query and analysis capabilities to client applications.

Data mining uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze data and create models that represent information about the data. Data mining models can be used to predict characteristics of new data or to identify groups of data entities that have similar characteristics.

Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Analysis Services provides a powerful server and administrative tools to create and manage OLAP data and serve online client applications. Analysis Services also incorporates data mining algorithms that can analyze relational data in the data warehouse database and multidimensional data in cubes.

Cubes and data mining models must be designed, configured, and processed before they can be used by client applications, and they usually require updating when the data warehouse data is updated. For more information, see Analysis Services Overview.