Olation® and Microsoft SQL Server, how do they work together? In this article, we’ll dig a little deeper into the details of this loving relationship.
Olation is a software that lives alongside SQL Server. One of the most important technological facts about Olation is that it does not require its own proprietary database file. All data persists in SQL Server.
So it begs the question, why do you need Olation?
Olation utilizes tables that exist in SQL Server and turns them into an in-memory analytical model. The analytical model is a live database, which can be tapped into easily from MS Excel, as well as other front ends. Now, we believe that waaaay too much time is wasted working in spreadsheets. Regrettably, many people have accepted the staus quo, i.e., that massive Excel files are just a fact of business.There is a better way! — and all of our products are a testament to this notion.
Combining Olation and SQL Server allows for the automation of complex mathematical calculations. These are the types of calculations that take Financial Analysts forever, because of the difficulty accessing and calculating data…in..one…spreadsheet…cell…at…a……time. With Olation, complex math is not only automated, it is hyper-fast.
Reporting flexibility for Olation goes beyond any other BI solution, including Excel Pivot Tables and PowerPivot: with Olation, where whole segments of data from SQL Server tables can be shown, along with individual data points from the analytical model. The everyday spreadsheet is transformed into a live reporting masterpiece.
Currently, users employ Excel as a way to dump read-only data taken from transactional systems. There’s no collaboration between team members, and business intelligence does not flow seamlessly among users in a group, much less through an organization. Olation becomes a game changer in this respect, enabling dynamic collaboration for not only Excel users, but also other user groups with their own front-end preferences.
Olation will expand the user base of SQL Server by providing data capture from Excel into SQL, i.e., both read and write capabilities from Excel, typically into budget/forecast plan applications. This means that truly for the first time, the value that gets added to data in Excel spreadsheets can actually be captured to a SQL database in a systematic way.
Olation introduces a calculation engine that complements the Microsoft SQL Server engine. Many engines can only make calculations across one dimension, typically in rows; but with Olation’s engine, calculations can be made across all dimensions and cubes. With this capability, companies can develop models that spread data for budget and forecast planning, as well as all kinds of analytical modeling. In this manner, Olation delivers instant access to the plan data that drives growth and profit within a company.
That’s an introduction to how Olation works with SQL Server–surely a match made in technology heaven!
