Introduction to Multi Dimension

Multi Dimensional

Multi Dimensional is the concept of analysing the across many dimensions.

 When the data is stored in a multi dimensional database it means that the data is stored in a cube data structure. The data can be viewed and analyzed from different perspectives at the same time.

Multi Dimensional Data Structures

Dimensions - Various ways through which users want to slice and dice data
Example - Country
Hierarchies -  Similar descriptive data arranged in levels
Example - Districts, State
Levels         -  Individual level of a hierarchy
Example - Districts
Measures    - Values which can be measured for various dimensions
Example - Revenue
Cubes          - Collection of dimensions and measures
Example - Sales Cube
Members     - Individual data members
Secretariat
Attributes    - Provide additional detail for member values
Address

For example

i)  If a CEO of the company wants to analyze the product sales across a retail chain in United States. Each retail store records the unit sales and discounts for privileged customers or some products.
ii) The sales are analysed by Product, Scenario i.e. Actuals Vs Budget, Region, Measures (Metrics such as units, discounts), and Time.
iii) This is a 5 dimensional model. The dimension identify how the data is organised or types of data are tracked.

How Business Run

Every business budgets or forecasts for the upcoming year. Business Users analyze the actual numbers and come up with the forecast numbers to allocated the budget to different departments/functions with in the organization.

For example..

1) How much should we allocate to the projects next year?
2) How much labor % is going to be increased to handle the projects?
3) How many people would be required to travel to different locations to support the projects?

Once the budget is over for the selected period, the actual data start flowing into the system. The actual data may come from any transactional source such as Oracle ERP, SAP, Files etc.

At the end of day/week or month, business users compare the actuals & forecast to check how the business is doing.