Can anyone suggest a solid tool for OLAP
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Hi Everyone,
I've almost completed building a finance datamart. My next step is to start reviewing and recommending OLAP tools. Can anyone suggest a tool that is relatively inexepensive and is a web Olap tool?
Here are my core requirements for an OLAP tool:
1. Something very similiar to Analysis Services Browsing tool(this is such a cool tool), but on the Web
2. Not too expensive maybe under $500
3. Not really an ActiveX tool but something less programmatic
4. If it has to be programmatic, it needs to be asp.net which is my development platform
I hope this isn't a huge wishlist
Thanks,
Joe
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The one I know about that is similar is Data Dynamics' DynamiCube. We looked at it once upon a time. It's $599, but unfortunately it is an ActiveX control. Still if you're interested:
It's been a while since I've looked at it so I can't speak for 3.0. However, unless you're running Firefox or Mozilla as a company standard, it might do for you.
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
Hey Joe,
There's quite a few around. Take a look over at Mosha's site (http://www.mosha.com), he lists some there.
If you want free (yeehaw) tools, MSft have their 'BI Portal' which uses OWC (office Web Components) amongst other things. They also bought (licensed? made some agreemnt one) the GrapeCity asp.net control, again, search Msft downloads using 'business intelligence' as search keywords.
Thin slicer (and also thin olap) are free too. The former is a web-based olap tool, the latter is really a set of downloadable tools/scripts/components that use XMLA (xml for analysis, a tack on for AS2K but the native protocol for AS2K5) and can build powerpoints using MDX queries.
re: you're reading materials, try to get your hands on either Mosha's book on MDX or the one by George Spofford (MDX Solutions) if you're thinking of writing your own MDX queries.
Cheers,
Steve.
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Thanks for the information, I was just about to download and evaluate, however I stopped because this product can not read Analysis Service Cubes. I guess that is another requirement I have, the product needs to have the ability to read Cubes from Analysis Services.
Thanks,
Joe
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No, it does support the OLAP connections. An example walkthrough that demonstrates this with an MDX query is here:
DynamiCube 3.0 Help: Using MDX
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
Thanks for the information. I guess I'll probably start using MDX, however my first choice is to have tool automatically read a cube.
Trying to follow best practices and not build my own. I started looking at OLAP browser which specifically reads Analysis Services Cubes, however three draw backs one is filter does not happen automatically, 2 it doesn't appear that this product can be install on a web server, 3 they don't list a price which tells me it can be quite expensive.
I don't want to sound like I'm looking for freeware but some of these products can be in the thousands and we just don't have that type of budget. I will definitely look at all of your suggestions.
Thanks,
Joe
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I know we implemented an earlier version of the tool (pre-OLAP support) and it was inexpensive and works well for us. We also use their reporting piece. Last I remembered, Data Dynamics was easy to work with. You may try and contact them and see what additional assistance they can provide.
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
One of the lower end tools that is pretty slick is Xcelsius
It allows you to connect to a data source and develop dashboard, reporting, etc using common objects (charts, sliders, etc). What you create is exported as a .swf (shockware) format and others (pdf, ppt, etc but are just essentially the .swf embedded in them).
The professional edition is $495.
You may want to also look into Microsoft Reporting services. It sits on top of Analysis Services and allows you to create reports (mostly using .net technologies).
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Using Microsoft Office Web Components is free and easy to use. There are many examples on the Microsoft website how to program with Office Web Components. If you choose to use this option, make sure you configure security correctly. This is usually good for intranet applications behind a firewall.
My suggestion would be to prototype with XML for Analysis SDK and/or Reporting Services. You can connect to your data-mart using http or https (much better than using connected cubes with or without DSNs).
You can also use ADO MD with ASP.NET if you want to do more website programming against your SQL Server data-mart cubes.
By the way, you can record MDX syntax starting with Excel 2002 and higher. This means you can connect to a cube using Excel, record MDX, copy and paste it to where you are programming. This can save you a lot of time and help you learn MDX faster.
Hope this helps.
Good luck to you,
John P.
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Wow,
Everyone's been super. FYI, this is what I've come up with so far;
Non-programming (potentially off the shelf)
SPSS OLAP Hub - they're getting back to me on a price and demo product
Olap browser - installation was easy and I was able to connect directly into the cube within analysis services. However I don't know if they offer this type of functionality for the web.
Programming(in .NET)
DynamicCube 3.0
Web Components from Grapecity
Xcelsius
Contour Cube
Custom programming
Now, I'm at the stage to start evaluating and determine cost effect of buying vs programming.
Thanks everyone
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I recommend SiSense Prism at http://www.sisense.com
You haven't seen anything like it.
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just thought I'd add my 2 cents:
Pyramid Analytics.... a super OLAP tool.
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