OLAP cubes
It’s hard to imagine an efficient Business Intelligence system without OLAP cubes. They quickly gained recognition among analytics thanks to their efficiency and accessibility.
OLAP cubes are the primary data source for all other elements of Business Intelligence, such as reports, dashboards, and data mining analyses.
OLAP cubes in SQL Server
OLAP cubes are multidimensional databases which allow for quick data analyses. Their sources are usually data warehouses which store millions of records.
Because the data stored in the cubes are compressed, aggregated, and already counted, reporting becomes a very fast process.
The new “in-memory” version of OLAP cubes was introduced in the 2012 version of the SQL Server, making reporting even faster.
A structure coherent with the spreadsheet makes it possible to access data directly from the OLAP cubes with no need to export anything from Excel.
Why Microsoft BI?
Microsoft has been a leader when it comes to Gartner Magic Quadrant in the Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform categories. Some companies consider even appearing in the Quadrant a great success.
This leading position is a result of good reviews from Microsoft Business Intelligence’s clients.
Various capabilities of the BI platform and its very good cooperation with MS Excel have also been a deciding factor.
The Gartner Magic Quadrant experts have also noticed how easily adaptable the platform is when it comes to its organization and that its users tend to stay loyal to it.