Query Language and Interactivity
Nils Rasmussen, Claire Y. Chen, Manish Bansal · 2012
Different database structures require different query languages. The most common language is Structured Query Language (SQL). SQL queries the relational online transaction processing (OLTP) and operational data store (ODS) databases, whereas Multi-dimensional Scripting (MDX) is the language to interface with online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes specifically. Benefit of OLAP is the capability to drill across. Drill across means it can be drilled from one dimension to another. For example, when viewing the “total sales amount by customers,” it may be seen the products sold to a certain customer. Drilling from the Customer dimension to the Products dimension is a form of drill across.