A
database management system (DBMS) organized around groups of
records that share a common
field value. Multidimensional databases are often generated from
relational databases. Whereas relational databases make it easy to work with individual records, multidimensional databases are designed for analyzing large groups of records.
The term OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) has become almost synonymous with multidimensional databases, whereas OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing) generally refers to relational DBMSs.