Web-based OLAP

Rich internet applications (RIA) are the next-generation of web applications that share many characteristics of desktop applications. In-memory OLAP brings to the user the ability to explore the data warehouse in real-time on a powerful desktop. Combining these two areas together, we investigate challenges concerning development of a RIA for OLAP users. A functional prototype of a Web-based OLAP was built and run in a browser connected to an OLAP server inside a SAP – BusinessObjects testing lab. The performance of this client-centric, JavaScript-based system is compared to a version of the SAP’s traditional server-centric system. We find that the choice of browser can significantly affect the performance of the Web-based OLAP. With the new graphic capabilities of HTML5, our Web-based OLAP attains a level of data visualization beyond the capabilities of a traditional client-server system.