SQL being a simplified and very powerful query language, has various pitfalls, when it comes to report generation capabilities of the system. However, we have OLAP-based systems and data warehouses, which provide a better way to analyze data and uses a multi-dimensional data model for complex and ad-hoc queries with a rapid execution time. OLAP systems require dimensions, and fact tables, ie, building a data warehouse, which is feasible for a medium or large sized organization but not for small applications. OLAP provides various operations like :
- Slicing and Dicing (selection conditions and attributes)
- Roll up and Drill down (to navigate along various levels of detail)
- Pivot (rotate the representation)
What if we could impart the same capabilities to all the applications ? I think we can. But how ?