Glossary

aggregation

a summary of detail data that is stored with or referred to by a cube.

aggregation table

a table that contains pre-calculated totals. Aggregation tables can be referred to by cubes, reducing the amount of time that is required for building the cubes.

Application Response Measurement

the name of an application programming interface that was developed by an industry partnership and which is used to monitor the availability and performance of software applications. ARM monitors the application tasks that are important to a particular business. Short form: ARM.

ARM

See Application Response Measurement.

calculated member

in a dimension, a member whose value is derived from the values of other members.

caption table

a table of translated captions for multilingual OLAP cubes.

child

in a hierarchical database, a segment or node that has one or more superordinate segments, or parents. The branching of parents and children form a tree structure in which each level obtains identifying and qualifying features from the parent level above it.

connection profile

a client-side definition of where a metadata server is located. The definition includes a computer name and a port number. In addition, the connection profile can also contain user connection information.

cube

See OLAP cube.

data cleansing

the process of eliminating inaccuracies, irregularities, and discrepancies from data.

data scrubbing

another term for data cleansing.

data sparsity

a characteristic of a multidimensional data source in which there is a relatively high proportion of empty cells (which indicate missing data values) to filled cells.

data warehouse

a collection of data that is extracted from one or more sources for the purpose of query, reporting, and analysis. Data warehouses are generally used for storing large amounts of data that originates in other corporate applications or that is extracted from external data sources.

descendant

a record that a member that resides at a lower level in relation to other members in the hierarchy. A record is a descendant of its ancestors.

detail data

nonsummarized (or partially summarized) factual information that pertains to a single area of interest, such as sales figures, inventory data, or human-resource data.

dimension

a data element that categorizes values in a data set into non-overlapping categories that can be used to group, filter, and label the data in meaningful ways. Hierarchies within a dimension typically represent different groupings of information that pertains to a single concept. For example, a Time dimension might consist of two hierarchies: (1) Year, Month, and Date, and (2) Year, Week, and Day.

dimension table

in a star schema or snowflake schema, a table that contains data about a particular dimension. A primary key connects a dimension table to a related fact table. For example, if a dimension table named Customers has a primary key column named Customer ID, then a fact table named Customer Sales might specify the Customer ID column as a foreign key.

drill down

to explore data and access information by moving from summary information to more detailed data from which the summary is derived. For example, you could click folders in a hierarchy from the top downwards to find a specific file. Drilling down provides a method of exploring multidimensional data by moving from one level of detail to the next.

drill up

in a view of a data table, multidimensional database (MDDB), or cube, to click on detail data in order to view higher-level, summarized information. For example, if you are looking at sales totals for a sales district, you might drill up to view sales totals for the entire country or sales region that the sales district is part of.

drill-through table

a view, data set, or other data file that contains data that is used to define a cube. Drill-through tables can be used by client applications to provide a view from processed data into the underlying data source.

fact

a single piece of factual information in a data table. For example, a fact can be an employee name, a customer's phone number, or a sales amount. It can also be a derived value such as the percentage by which total revenues increased or decreased from one year to the next.

fact table

the central table in a star schema or snowflake schema. The fact table contains the individual facts that are being stored in the database as well as the keys that connect each fact to the appropriate value in each dimension.

foreign key

a column or combination of columns in one table that references the corresponding primary key in another table. A foreign key must have the same attributes as the primary key that it references.

format

See SAS format.

granularity

the relative level of detail that a data item represents. From the top of a dimension to the bottom, granularity increases. For example, in a Time dimension that consists of a Year-Month-Day hierarchy, Month is more granular than Year, and Day is more granular than Month.

hierarchy

an arrangement of related objects into levels that are based on parent-child relationships. Members of a hierarchy are arranged from more general to more specific.

HOLAP

See hybrid online analytical processing.

hybrid online analytical processing

a type of OLAP in which relational OLAP (ROLAP) and multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP) are combined. In HOLAP, the source data is usually stored using a ROLAP strategy, and aggregations are stored using a MOLAP strategy. This combination usually results in the smallest amount of storage space. In HOLAP, aggregates can be pre-calculated and can be linked into a hybrid storage model. Short form: HOLAP.

informat

See SAS informat.

leaf member

the lowest-level member of a hierarchy. Leaf members do not have any child members.

level

an element of a dimension hierarchy. Levels describe the dimension from the highest (most summarized) level to the lowest (most detailed) level. For example, possible levels for a Geography dimension are Country, Region, State or Province, and City.

linguistic sorting

a method of sorting data that applies different collation rules in place of the default dictionary collation rules.

locale

a setting that reflects the language, local conventions, and culture for a geographic region. Local conventions can include specific formatting rules for paper sizes, dates, times, and numbers, and a currency symbol for the country or region. Some examples of locale values are French_Canada, Portuguese_Brazil, and Chinese_Singapore.

logical server

the second-level object in the metadata for SAS servers. A logical server specifies one or more of a particular type of server component, such as one or more SAS Workspace Servers.

MDDB

See multidimensional database.

MDX language

See multidimensional expressions language.

Measures dimension

a special dimension that contains summarized numeric data values (measures) that are analyzed. Total Sales and Average Revenue are examples of measures. For example, you might drill down within the Clothing hierarchy of the Product dimension to see the value of the Total Sales measure for the Shirts member.

member

an element of a dimension. For example, for a dimension that contains time periods, each time period is a member of the dimension.

metadata repository

a collection of related metadata objects, such as the metadata for a set of tables and columns that are maintained by an application. A SAS Metadata Repository is an example.

metadata server

a server that provides metadata management services to one or more client applications. A SAS Metadata Server is an example.

MOLAP

See multidimensional online analytical processing.

multidimensional database

a specialized data storage structure in which data is presummarized and cross-tabulated and then stored as individual cells in a matrix format, rather than in the row-and-column format of relational database tables. The source data can come either from a data warehouse or from other data sources. MDDBs can give users quick, unlimited views of multiple relationships in large quantities of summarized data.

multidimensional expressions language

a standardized, high-level language that is used to query multidimensional data sources. The MDX language is the multidimensional equivalent of SQL (Structured Query Language). Short form: MDX language.

multidimensional online analytical processing

a type of OLAP that stores aggregates in multidimensional database structures. Short form: MOLAP.

multilingual cube

an OLAP cube that generates different query results and captions according to the locale of the querying application.

navigate

to purposefully move from one view of the data in a table (or in some other data structure, such as a cube) to another. Drilling down and drilling up are two examples of navigation.

NWAY aggregation

the aggregation that has the minimum set of dimension levels that is required for answering any business question. The NWAY aggregation is the aggregation that has the finest granularity.

ODBO

See OLE DB for OLAP.

OLAP

See online analytical processing.

OLAP cube

a logical set of data that is organized and structured in a hierarchical, multidimensional arrangement to enable quick analysis of data. A cube includes measures, and it can have numerous dimensions and levels of data.

OLAP schema

a container for OLAP cubes. A cube is assigned to an OLAP schema when it is created, and an OLAP schema is assigned to a SAS OLAP Server when the server is defined in the metadata. A SAS OLAP Server can access only the cubes that are in its assigned OLAP schema.

OLE DB for OLAP

an extension to OLE DB that enables users to access multidimensional databases in addition to relational databases. Short form: ODBO.

online analytical processing

a software technology that enables users to dynamically analyze data that is stored in multidimensional database tables (cubes).

parallel I/O

a method of input and output that takes advantage of multiple CPUs and multiple controllers, with multiple disks per controller to read or write data in independent threads.

parallel processing

a method of processing that divides a large job into several smaller jobs that can be executed in parallel on multiple CPUs.

parent

in a hierarchical database, a segment or node that has one or more subordinate segments, or children. The branching of parents and children form a tree structure in which each level obtains identifying and qualifying features from the parent level above it.

primary key

a column or combination of columns that uniquely identifies a row in a table.

reach-through

the act of retrieving and displaying to a user the (unsummarized) detail data from which the summarized data in a multidimensional database is derived, when that detail data is stored in a separate data repository.

relational online analytical processing

a type of OLAP in which the multidimensional data is stored in a relational database. Short form: ROLAP.

ROLAP

See relational online analytical processing.

roll up

to summarize (or apply some other type of calculation or formula to) data values at one level of a dimension hierarchy in order to derive values for a parent level. For example, sales figures for January can be rolled up to Quarter1, and employee data for one department can be rolled up to the division level.

SAS Application Server

a logical entity that represents the SAS server tier, which in turn comprises servers that execute code for particular tasks and metadata objects.

SAS ARM interface

an interface that can be used to monitor the performance of SAS applications. In the SAS ARM interface, the ARM API is implemented as an ARM agent. In addition, SAS supplies ARM macros, which generate calls to the ARM API function calls, and ARM system options, which enable you to manage the ARM environment and to log internal SAS processing transactions.

SAS format

a type of SAS language element that applies a pattern to or executes instructions for a data value to be displayed or written as output. Types of formats correspond to the data's type: numeric, character, date, time, or timestamp. The ability to create user-defined formats is also supported. Examples of SAS formats are BINARY and DATE. Short form: format.

SAS informat

a type of SAS language element that applies a pattern to or executes instructions for a data value to be read as input. Types of informats correspond to the data's type: numeric, character, date, time, or timestamp. The ability to create user-defined informats is also supported. Examples of SAS informats are BINARY and DATE. Short form: informat.

SAS Management Console

a Java application that provides a single user interface for performing SAS administrative tasks.

SAS Metadata Repository

a container for metadata that is managed by the SAS Metadata Server.

SAS Metadata Server

a multi-user server that enables users to read metadata from or write metadata to one or more SAS Metadata Repositories.

SAS name

a name that is assigned to items such as SAS variables and SAS data sets. For most SAS names, the first character must be a letter or an underscore. Subsequent characters can be letters, numbers, or underscores. Blanks and special characters (except the underscore) are not allowed. However, the VALIDVARNAME= system option determines what rules apply to SAS variable names. The maximum length of a SAS name depends on the language element that it is assigned to.

SAS OLAP Cube Studio

a Java interface for defining and building OLAP cubes in SAS System 9 or later. Its main feature is the Cube Designer wizard, which guides you through the process of registering and creating cubes.

SAS OLAP Server

a SAS server that provides access to multidimensional data. The data is queried using the multidimensional expressions (MDX) language.

SAS Open Metadata Architecture

a general-purpose metadata management facility that provides metadata services to SAS applications. The SAS Open Metadata Architecture enables applications to exchange metadata, which makes it easier for these applications to work together.

Scalable Performance Data Engine

a SAS engine that is able to deliver data to applications rapidly because it organizes the data into a streamlined file format. Short form: SPD Engine.

schema

a map or model of the overall data structure of a database. A schema consists of schema records that are organized in a hierarchical tree structure. Schema records contain schema items.

scrubbing

another term for data cleansing.

shared dimension

a dimension that is used by more than one cube.

slice

a subset of data from a cube, where the data in the slice pertains to one or more members of one or more dimensions. For example, from a cube that contains data about customer feedback, one slice might pertain to feedback on one particular product (one member of the Product dimension). Another slice might pertain to feedback on that product from customers residing in particular geographic areas who submitted their feedback during a certain time period (one member of the Product dimension, multiple members of the Geography dimension, one or more members of the Time dimension).

SMP

See symmetric multiprocessing.

sparsity

See data sparsity.

SPD Engine

See Scalable Performance Data Engine.

star schema

tables in a database in which a single fact table is connected to multiple dimension tables. This is visually represented in a star pattern. SAS OLAP cubes can be created from a star schema.

stored statistics

statistics that are stored in a cube. Stored statistics can be used to derive higher-level statistics. Examples include sum, minimum, and maximum.

symmetric multiprocessing

a hardware and software architecture that can improve the speed of I/O and processing. An SMP machine has multiple CPUs and a thread-enabled operating system. An SMP machine is usually configured with multiple controllers and with multiple disk drives per controller. Short form: SMP.

thread

a single path of execution of a process that runs on a core on a CPU.

thread-enabled operating system

an operating system that can coordinate symmetric access by multiple CPUs to a shared main memory space. This coordinated access enables threads from the same process to share data very efficiently.

threading

a high-performance technology for either data processing or data I/O in which a task is divided into threads that are executed concurrently on multiple cores on one or more CPUs.

Time dimension

a dimension that divides time into levels such as Year, Quarter, Month, and Day.

tuple

a data object that contains two or more components. In OLAP, a tuple is a slice of data from a cube. It is a selection of members (or cells) across dimensions in a cube. It can also be viewed as a cross-section of member data in a cube. For example, ([time].[all time].[2003], [geography].[all geography].[u.s.a.], [measures].[actualsum]) is a tuple that contains data from the Time, Geography, and Measures dimensions.

warehouse

See data warehouse.

wizard

an interactive utility program that consists of a series of dialog boxes, windows, or pages. Users supply information in each dialog box, window, or page, and the wizard uses that information to perform a task.