OLAP vs QlikView

A number of things need to be sorted out here.

1. User Community

2. Reports

3. Data

4. Data manipulation/management

5. Company size: Large, medium, Small First:

User community, who will be using system?

Business/data analysts who perform iterative analysis and often perform ad hoc queries?

Business managers/line staff that use reports and rarely need additional anlaysis ? Executive management? Other? In any group of users 10% will use and benefit from a highly flexible data analysis solution.

Some of these users will even want to append/add timker with additional data sets.

Right now they probably load data to Excel for their own discovery.

This group benefits immensely from QlikView/Qliktech, whereas, they are a problem for OLAP because they "break" cubes and their constant requests for ad hoc queries that have not been predetermined, pre-aggregated or included in the current data set are extremely painful in OLAP.

While10-15% will use heavily, 60% want access to this functionality and power, some "just in case".

Business and line manager end users tend to like OLAP early-on because reports seem obvious and easy to use, but become frustrated when they want to ask additional questions or want to see the results of additional queries and either have to submit a request to IT or decision management group, dump data to another system, guess or give up.

QlikView rewards end users who want to dig and examine questions from multiple angles - very different from OLAP which requires pre-designed paths.

1.Tech note - QlikView does not punish analysts with hierarchies since atomic data can be accommodated.

2. Reports - QlikView does not do traditional reporting well. Users and user communities tend to leverage the tools visual tools and selections to the point where paper becomes obsolete and often irrelevant. While traditional reports are possible, and by this, I mean something you want to print, print becomes obsolete and "reports" are replaced by clips or snap shots representing the end users discovery path and findings. QlikView dynamically distributes data across rows and columns, which can make printed reports challenging to format. QlikView does have functions for restricting run-on and for generating additional pages - but these are not the tools strong suit.

3. Data capabilities - 1TB in OLAP is not the equivalent of 1TB in QlikView. QlikView does not require the overhead associated with indexes or typical summary tables (yes, I like atomic data when I can afford it). Like many advanced systems, QlikView treats categorical fields very well (little space/very high speed), works well with numbers, calculated fields, performs calculations on the fly and enables these values to be used to redistribute data, adjust queries (also different from OLAP reports, very different)

4. Data manipulation, change control, management tools - QlikView is not a general purpose database but does have its own data manipulation tools. It performs some ETL-like functions and can perform some advanced data manipulation during data refresh. While the big OLAP reporting tools have and will develop additional data management functionality to manage table changes, new fields, data correction/audit, change control reporting and metadata, QlikView will likely remain a separate entity dependent on other tools for data cleansing, change controls, etc. and also requires Database Administrator intervention (realistically all tools do).QlikView is further along than other niche analytical products regarding data manipulation, error reporting, conversion, and calculation tools bit still requires and will likely require additional resources for data management functions. (Ironically, CLIENT x CLIENT uses QV for data quality assessment in new engagements)

5. Large, Medium, Small company: Small companies that are hands on with data, want flexible analysis and have continually evolving needs will get a higher ROI from QlikTech than generic OLAP.