The OLAP data source
The Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data source is used in case a multidimensional engine is involved.
Note
Quoting from Wikipedia about OLAPÂ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_analytical_processing): a multidimensional structure is defined as a variation of the relational model that uses multidimensional structures to organize data and express the relationships between data. Even when data is manipulated it remains easy to access and continues to constitute a compact database format. A multidimensional structure is quite popular for analytical databases that use OLAP applications. Analytical databases use these databases because of their ability to deliver answers to complex business queries swiftly.
The Pentaho suite provides an open source multidimensional engine called Mondrian (http://community.pentaho.com/projects/mondrian). Mondrian is entirely written in Java and it executes queries written in the Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) language, reading data...