Chapter 9: Analyzing OLAP Data with Microsoft Data Analyzer

Overview

Microsoft Data Analyzer, a member of the Microsoft Office family of data analysis applications, displays OLAP data in a unique way. It provides a highly graphical user interface and works with other Office applications, allowing you to quickly view and analyze data in ways you might not have imagined before. Data Analyzer is an ideal solution with which to present and analyze OLAP data in a more summarized manner than PivotTable reports.

Data Analyzer is also considered a member of the Microsoft family of business intelligence applications, which includes software products such as Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services for data management and Microsoft Excel and the Office Web Components for data analysis. Business intelligence refers to the realm of data analysis tasks and software applications that enable organizations to quickly discern data trends, patterns, and relationships that represent the health of a business. Data Analyzer presents a view of multiple data dimensions, which can result in faster decision making. With this information, businesses might alter their direction in hours and minutes, rather than weeks or months.

Objectives

In this chapter, you will learn

• When it’s best to use Microsoft Data Analyzer rather than PivotTable reports and PivotChart reports.

• How to connect to and view OLAP data with Data Analyzer.

• How to create custom measures with Data Analyzer.

• How to use Data Analyzer views to make better informed business decisions based on your OLAP data.

Note

To use Data Analyzer effectively, you should be familiar with OLAP terms such as cube, dimension, level, member, and measure. If you are not, see Chapter 7, “Introducing Online Analytical Processing.”