Skip to content
~/reflective_data

analytics-dictionary / term / bi & reporting

OLAP cube

An OLAP cube is a pre-aggregated, multidimensional data structure that makes slicing and dicing fast.

Written by Reflective Data experts · updated Oct 5, 2026

Traditional BI used cubes to answer questions quickly on limited hardware. Modern columnar warehouses are fast enough that cubes are less common, though semantic layers play a similar role.

The idea of consistent dimensions and measures lives on.

related

DimensionOLAPSemantic layer

// how we can help

We build BI and dashboards people actually use, on the tools you have or the right new one. BI & reporting services → · Explore on the platform

more in bi & reporting

jupyter-notebook.md

Jupyter Notebook

Jupyter Notebook is an open-source tool for writing and running code, such as Python, alongside text…
pivot-table.md

Pivot table

A pivot table summarises data by letting you drag fields into rows, columns and values.
power-bi.md

Power BI

Power BI is Microsoft business intelligence platform for modelling data and building reports and dashboards.
scorecard.md

Scorecard

A scorecard is a compact view of a handful of KPIs against targets, often with status…
ad-hoc-analysis.md

Ad hoc analysis

Ad hoc analysis is a one-off investigation to answer a specific question, rather than a recurring…
embedded-analytics.md

Embedded analytics

Embedded analytics puts charts and dashboards inside your own product or customer portal.

← full analytics dictionary