In
computing,
online analytical processing, or
OLAP , is an approach to answering multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) queries swiftly. OLAP is part of the broader category of
business intelligence, which also encompasses
relational database, report writing and
data mining. Typical applications of OLAP include
business reporting for sales,
marketing, management reporting,
business process management (BPM),
budgeting and
forecasting,
financial reporting and similar areas, with new applications coming up, such as
agriculture. The term
OLAP was created as a slight modification of the traditional database term
online transaction processing (OLTP).