To Mecki and Stuart : I agree with both of you. MV isn't better just because it's MV. We have the capability to reformat our data in a way that allows for fast analysis.
That brings me to another point: Traditionally MV apps do OnLine Transaction Processing - OLTP, for which the requirements are different from OLAP for Analysis. A database that specializes in OLAP is more of a secondary repository where data is offloaded from the OLTP server for processing. Really, some of the MV-based BI tools do exactly that, they off-load from MV OLTP application servers to MV OLAP servers, reformat the data and then point their tools at them. This only proves the versatility of the platform. My original point to Bill was in part : decide what you want to do, and since you're going to offload anyway, offload to another account in your own MV server, or offload to another MV environment, and do your reporting from there using your favorite tools. There's no need to re-host your data to another environment for reporting or BI. That said, the reality is that most mainstream tools expect a relational DBMS to process SQL queries, unless they allow you to work through some API to provide them with data. There will almost always be an impedance mismatch here. The grief and cost of that mismatch depend on requirements, preference for technologies, and other factors. For all of these reasons I recommend people decide what it is that they really want in terms of hard business data, and then they can look at tools that allow them to get that data. Unfortunately most companies are driven by statements like "I just want Essbase" or "I just want Oracle" and all other logic goes by the wayside. The best thing IT people can do is to get to the root of what management needs through close relationships and candid discussions, then satisfy those needs so that management doesn't come to IT with mandates for specific products or technology that may not really respond to corporate goals. Tony Gravagno Nebula Research and Development TG@ remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/blog Visit PickWiki.com! Contribute! http://Twitter.com/TonyGravagno _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list [email protected] http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
