There's an old but highly useful idea from the beginning days of data warehouses, OLAP Cubes, and BI:
- The OLAP Cube and BI Iceberg
What this idea/analogy talks about is how we can only see that part of the iceberg that is above the water...
What lies below...Is invisible to us.
And might be 90% of the total iceberg!
Think of the above water visible part of the iceberg as the OLAP Cube reports and reporting tools...The Front End(s) essentially...
And the 90% of the complete iceberg (and system) that feeds the Front End/Top End...Is completely below the water line...
Yet is completely critical and essential to the top part that we do see.
So users and managers and other people often do not realize all the work and effort and moving parts that are below the waterline...
And it's good to educate them on this so they know the totality of all what's involved.
It's what was below the waterline that sunk the Titanic...
Make sure that poorly performing OLAP Cube systems don't sink or cause problems for your reporting system...
