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http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=85825
Issue #|85825
Summary|Multidimensional Spreadsheets and OLAP Functionality
Component|Spreadsheet
Version|1.0.0
Platform|All
URL|http://www.olapreport.com/origins.htm
OS/Version|All
Status|UNCONFIRMED
Status whiteboard|
Keywords|
Resolution|
Issue type|FEATURE
Priority|P2
Subcomponent|code
Assigned to|spreadsheet
Reported by|discoleo
--- Additional comments from [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Feb 3 17:09:40 +
2008 ---
This issue is part of a more comprehensive issue describing *major design flaws*
of existing spreadsheets.
I have posted already major design flaws part (1.)(issue 79924), part (2.)
(issue 80139) and a subissue of part (4.) (issue 83767).
This is the Part (3.) of Major Spreadsheet Design Flaws continuing the design
flaws in the Spreadsheet Structure. The implementation of this issue will also
depend significantly on the Part (4.) issue in this series and on splitting the
spreadsheet into 2 components (as described briefly in this issue and further on
in a future post).
SUMMARY
===
With the recent acquisition of MySQL by SUN Microsystems and the various
developments in the IT world, a new appraisal of *multidimensional software* has
become necessary.
TOC
- INTRO: Multidimensional Spreadsheets
-- Problem
- SOLUTION
-- Concept
- UTILITY
- LESSONS
A. INTRO
So, what are Multidimensional Spreadsheets? I will begin with a small
description of the problem.
A.1. PROBLEM
Lets say, a business takes account of its sales using a spreadsheet. Monthly
data is analysed and used for various calculations. Now, a new month has
started, and the data begins to be entered in the spreadsheet. The problem is,
the user has to copy all the formulas from the previous month to the new month
(and correct/adapt eventual copy-errors), then correct the formulas yielding
yearly data/analysis (like yearly sales, ...) to use the data from the new
month.
This process is cumbersome and error prone.
B. SOLUTION
===
The solution would be to make the spreadsheet automatically aware of this new
data and:
i.) apply all formulas correctly on this new data, while
ii.) correcting any global formulas to take account of this data.
This is already possible using so called multidimensional spreadsheets. A good
account on the history of multidimensional software can be found at:
http://www.olapreport.com/origins.htm.
B.1. CONCEPT
What is the concept of multidimensional software?
The data is split into multiple dimensions. Basically, in this simple scenario,
we have 2 dimensions: one describing the revenues, and the other the time
(basically the months). When we add data for a new month, basically we extend
the time dimension with one month. All formulas applying to monthly data, will
apply to this new month as well. The global formulas will similarly consider the
values for the new month.
C. UTILITY
==
So, what is the utility of this software. There are many use cases. Please note,
that this is a feature most useful in high-end and professional settings. It is
likely that casual spreadsheet users (like most home users) won't benefit from
this feature. This is why I advocate splitting the spreadsheet application into
2 separate entities:
I.) a general canvas/table/grid-formatting program (this is what most home
users do most of the time – only minor spreadsheet functionality needed –
current spreadsheets fail miserably at this point), and
II.) a professional multidimensional spreadsheet module.
(I will deal with this splitting requisite in a future issue – for a glimpse of
this requirement, you could read further details on the wiki page:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Experience/Grand_Concept#Calc
but please note that this is work in progress and not ready yet for further
discussions).
The utility resides in corporate environments where complex spreadsheets are in
use. Adding new dimensions to a spreadsheet is a rather cumbersome process, and
one very error prone and hard to debug. Most users will simply copy some old
formula columns to their new destination, and will try to correct the resulting
formulas, but this generates a lot of hard to detect errors. Also, this process
becomes significantly more complex with more than 2 dimensions. In our simple
example, we had only 2 dimension (revenues vs time). But complex spreadsheets
may contain a lot more dimensions: items sold, sales revenues, time, world
region, OR to give another example from life sciences: study centre, time,
visit-number, various physiologic parameters, and outcome data.
Therefore, a multidimensional model would make life so
