Data Cube Computation in Data Warehousing and Data
Mining
Data Cube Computation is an essential concept in data warehousing
and data mining, particularly for analyzing multi-dimensional data. It
involves organizing data in a way that allows for fast querying,
summarization, and multidimensional analysis. Let's break it down step
by step:
Data Warehousing and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)
Data Warehousing: A data warehouse is a centralized repository that
stores historical and current data from various sources, structured for
reporting and analysis. It supports decision-making processes.
OLAP: OLAP is a category of data processing that allows users to interact
with large volumes of data and perform complex queries. Data Cube is a
key feature in OLAP systems.
What is a Data Cube?
A Data Cube is a multi-dimensional array of values that allow users to
view data from different perspectives (dimensions) and at varying levels
of aggregation. The data cube represents the data in a "cube-like"
structure, where each axis corresponds to a dimension.
For example, consider a sales database with the following dimensions:
Time (Year, Month, Day)
Product (Product Category, Product Type)
Region (Country, City)
Each axis (Time, Product, Region) is a dimension, and each cell in the
cube contains a measure like Sales Revenue, Quantity Sold, etc.
Data Cube Computation Process
Data Cube Computation involves creating and manipulating a data cube to
aggregate and summarize the data across multiple dimensions. It helps
users perform tasks like:
Drill Down: Go from a higher level of aggregation to a lower one (e.g., from
Year to Month).
Roll Up: Go from a detailed level to a more summarized level (e.g., from City
to Country).
Slice: Extract a sub-cube by selecting a specific value for one of the
dimensions (e.g., showing data for a specific year).
Dice: Select data based on specific ranges across multiple dimensions
(e.g., sales data for a specific product category and time range).
Example of Data Cube Computation
Let’s imagine a sales data warehouse where the data is summarized in a 3-
dimensional cube:
Dimensions: Time, Product, Region
Measure: Sales Amount
The table below shows a basic representation of how this cube might be
computed:
Year Product Category Region Sales Amount
2023 Electronics North America $500,000
2023 Electronics Europe $300,000
2023 Furniture North America $200,000
2023 Furniture Europe $150,000
2024 Electronics North America $600,000
2024 Electronics Europe $350,000
2024 Furniture North America $220,000
2024 Furniture Europe $180,000
Roll-Up: If we want to roll up the data by Year and Region, we would
aggregate the sales for each year and region combination:
Year Region Total Sales
2023 North America $700,000
2023 Europe $450,000
2024 North America $820,000
2024 Europe $530,000
Slice: If we want to view sales only for the Electronics category, we can
"slice" the cube to extract that particular subset of data:
Year Region Sales Amount
2023 North America $500,000
2023 Europe $300,000
2024 North America $600,000
2024 Europe $350,000
Dice: If we want to focus on Furniture sales in North America for the years
2023 and 2024, we can "dice" the data:
Year Region Sales Amount
2023 North America $200,000
2024 North America $220,000
Benefits of Data Cube Computation
Efficient Querying: Pre-aggregated cubes speed up the query process by
storing data at multiple aggregation levels.
Multi-Dimensional Analysis: Provides insights into different aspects of the
data (e.g., product, time, region).
User-Friendly: OLAP tools using data cubes allow users to interact with data
easily through slicing, dicing, drilling, and rolling up data.
Conclusion
Data Cube Computation is fundamental in data warehousing and data
mining because it organizes data in a way that facilitates multi-dimensional
analysis. By leveraging the cube’s aggregation and slicing features,
businesses can quickly derive insights from complex data structures and
make informed decisions.
Question: Data Cube Computation in Retail Sales Analysis
A retail store collects data on its sales across multiple locations, product
categories, and time periods. You are tasked with creating a data cube to
enable efficient analysis of this data.
Given the following raw sales data:
Year Quarter Product Product City Sales
Category Subcategory Amount
2023 Q1 Electronics Mobile Phones New York ₹1,00,000
2023 Q1 Electronics Laptops New York ₹1,50,000
2023 Q1 Furniture Chairs Los ₹80,000
Angeles
2023 Q2 Electronics Mobile Phones New York ₹1,20,000
2023 Q2 Furniture Tables Los ₹90,000
Angeles
2023 Q2 Electronics Laptops Los ₹1,40,000
Angeles
2024 Q1 Electronics Mobile Phones Chicago ₹1,10,000
2024 Q1 Furniture Chairs Chicago ₹70,000
Tasks:
1. Create the Data Cube
• Define the 3 dimensions and measure for the data cube.
• Explain the structure of the cube (e.g., rows, columns, layers).
2. Perform the Following Operations on the Cube:
(a) Roll-Up:
• Aggregate sales data by Year and Product Category.
• Show the summarized sales totals for each year-product
combination.
(b) Slice:
• Extract sales data only for Year 2023 (ignore 2024 data).
• Display the sliced data table.
(c) Dice:
• Focus on Electronics sales in New York across all quarters.
• Display this subset of data in a clear table.
(d) Drill-Down:
• For Q1 in 2023, show sales broken down by City and Product
Subcategory (more detailed view).
• Present the result in a table format.
