ABSTRACT
Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a digital method for data discovery that enables researchers to work with very large amounts of data. It uses computer processing to answer queries through the selective extraction and viewing of data stored in databases, facilitating the analysis of multidimensional data from multiple perspectives. The difference is that OLAP aggregates information from multiple systems and stores the information in a multidimensional format whereas business analytics and data mining apply statistics, algorithms, ratios and clustering to internal and external business/organisation data. OLAP summarises data and makes forecasts; data mining discovers hidden patterns, relationships and trends; business analytics explores, analyses and provides actionable insight. OLAP is an online database query answering system that queries and extracts information that has been inputted by online transaction processing. This is an online database modifying system that manages and facilitates transaction-orientated tasks and provides source data for OLAP.
