OLAP Miner User's Guide


Glossary

This glossary defines terms that are used in this book and throughout the IBM DB2 OLAP Server library.

alias name
An alternate name for a dimension or member.

block
A string of data elements that is recorded or transmitted as a unit.

cube
A multidimensional database. A multidimensional database is a method of referencing data through multiple dimensions. An individual cell is the intersection of a point for a set of dimensions.

data load
The process of populating a multidimensional database with data. Loading data establishes actual values for the values of the cells that are defined in the database outline for the database.

dense dimension
A dimension with a high probability for occupying one or more data points in every combination of dimensions that occurs.

descendant
Any member in a branch below a parent. A descendant could be a child, a grand child, a great-grand child, or lower.

deviation
A value that differs significantly from an expected value. OLAP Miner calculates the expected value of a selected cell by averaging values in all dimensions that intersect that cell.

deviation detection definition
A user-specified definition of a subset of data that contains at least one member that is selected as Member Only, usually from the Accounts dimension, to be mined for deviations. The rest of the deviation detection definition contains selections from all other dimensions in the cube as Member Only or Member and Descendants. The member that is specified for deviation detection is mined in the context of all other members that are defined in the subcube.

dimension
A data category, such as time, accounts, products, or markets. In a multidimensional database outline, the dimensions represent the highest consolidation level.

generation
A layer in hierarchical tree structure that defines member relationships in a multidimensional database. DB2 OLAP Server orders generations incrementally from the member that is the name of the dimension (generation 1) to the leaf members.

generation name
A unique name that describes a generation in a database outline.

level
A branch within a dimension. The levels are numbered incrementally from the leaf member (level 0) to the root.

level name
A unique name that describes a level in a database outline.

linked reporting object
An object that can be attached to a cell in a cube such as a paragraph of text, a graph, bitmap image, audio clip, a uniform resource locator (URL), or a link to data in another DB2 OLAP Server database.

member
A discrete component within a dimension. For example, January 1997 or 1Qtr97 are typical members of a Time dimension.

Member and Descendants
A type of choice that is available when you select a member for a deviation detection definition. If you select a member as Member and Descendants, then the data that is associated with the member and the data that is associated with all descendants of the member is mined for deviations.

Member Only
A type of choice that is available when you select a member for a deviation detection definition. If you select a member as Member Only, then only the data that is associated with that member is mined for deviations.

multidimensional data
The data in a multidimensional database. Data can include basic data values (loaded from an external source) that represent combinations of the lowest level of members in the dimensions of the database, data values that are calculated from the base data values, and rolled up data values that are created by combining values for members in dimension hierarchies.

named pipes
An API that is used for special node-to-node applications and particularly for access to communications and database servers.

OLAP application
An application that you create using the Application Manager or the ESSCMD commands (in IBM DB2 OLAP Server) or with the DB2 OLAP Integration Server desktop. An OLAP application can contain one or more multidimensional databases and any associated calculation scripts, report scripts, and data load rules.

online analytical processing (OLAP)
A multidimensional, multi-user, client/server computing environment for users who need to analyze consolidated enterprise data in real time. OLAP systems feature zooming, data pivoting, complex calculations, trend analyses, and data modeling.

power user
A user that can access or build cubes and create deviation detection definitions that are associated with that cube. If users do not have this level of authority, they cannot create, edit, copy, rename, delete, or run a deviation detection definition. The authority level is defined in the server configuration file.

shared member
A member that explicitly shares storage space with another member of the same name. This member has an attribute that designates it as shared. Shared members prevent making extra calculations on a member that appears in more than one location in a database outline.

sibling
A child member at the same branch level.

Spreadsheet add-in
Software that merges with Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 to enable analysis of multidimensional databases. The software library appears as a menu add-in to the spreadsheet and provides such features as connect, zoom-in, and calculate.

subcube
A user-defined subset of an OLAP cube (multidimensional database) that is mined for deviations. The deviation detection definition defines the user-defined subcube.


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