Difference Between OLAP and OLTP

OLAP and OLTP are online processing systems. However, there are prominent differences between them. OLAP and OLTP vary in their data, transaction, time, queries, and normalisation.

/10

Banking Quiz

Test your knowledge about topics related to banking

1 / 10

What is the full form of ATM?

2 / 10

Treasury Bills (or T–Bills) are issued by government to _____ money.

3 / 10

Which of the following is not a secured loan?

4 / 10

What is a foreign exchange rate?

5 / 10

Which of the following is a type of loan provided by banks?

6 / 10

What is an E-wallet?

7 / 10

What is the name of the type of loan used for financing the purchase of a car?

8 / 10

Retail Banking means 

9 / 10

What is a credit score?

10 / 10

What is the main purpose of money transfer?

Your score is

0%

OLAP refers to an Online Analytical Processing system. In contrast, OLTP refers to the Online Transaction Processing system. There are several other differentiating factors between the two.

OLAP vs OLTP

The difference between OLAP and OLTP is that OLAP is an online analytical processor. On the other hand, OLTP is an online transaction processor. The transaction time for OLAP is relatively longer than that of OLTP. In addition, OLTP handles simple queries as compared to the OLAP system. OLAP is subject-oriented; OLTP is application-oriented. 

OLAP vs OLTP

Want to save this article for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own articles box!

OLAP refers to an Online Analytical Processing system. The function of the OLAP database is to store the historical data input of OLTP.

OLAP is subject-oriented; it has a practical application in data mining, decision making, analytics and the like. In addition, it unveils snapshots of current business tasks. The data size is considerably large.

OLTP refers to the Online Transaction Processing system. OLTP serves the purpose of recording the current Update, Insertion, and Deletion while carrying out a transaction.

OLTP has practical applications in online banking, sending a text message, online airline ticket booking, and adding an item to the shopping cart. OLTP is application-oriented and has prominent use in businesses.

Comparison Table

Parameters of ComparisonOLAPOLTP
DefinitionOLAP refers to a database system which stores historical data input of OLTP. OLTP refers to a database system that serves the purpose of recording the current Update, Insertion, and Deletion while carrying out a transaction.  
Full FormOnline Analytical Processing systemOnline Transaction Processing system
TransactionOLAP has long transactions. OLTP has short transactions. 
Nature of Queries OLAP database handles complex queries. OLTP database handles rather simple queries. 
Processing TimeThe processing time of OLAP is longer than that for OLTP. The processing time for OLTP is shorter than that for OLAP. 
Data IntegritySince the transactions in OLAP are less frequent, it doesn’t care much about data integrity. OLTP database take data integrity as a serious concern. 

What is OLAP?

OLAP refers to an Online Analytical Processing system. The function of the OLAP database is to store the historical data input of OLTP.

It also enables users to assess different conclusions of multidimensional data. Another practical application of OLAP is it allows users to extract the necessary information for a large data set. It can, then, have a use for making decisions. 

OLAP allows users to initiate complex queries to extract multi-dimensional data. Moreover, it serves as an online data retrieval and analysis system.

OLAP usually has long transactions and requires a longer processing time as compared to OLTP. Since the transactions in OLAP are less frequent, it doesn’t care much about data integrity. 

Netflix movie recommendation system and the list of songs recommended by Spotify both are OLAP systems. OLAP is subject-oriented; it has a practical application in data mining, decision making, analytics and the like.

In addition, it unveils snapshots of current business tasks. The data size is considerably large. As a result, it is stored in TB or PB format. 

OLAP systems require backup from time to time. Queries related to the OLAP database may take hours since the data amount is significantly large.

This kind of data, moreover, is usually maintained by MD, CEO, GM. In conclusion, the OLAP system rarely writes operations. At most times, it only reads operations. 

What is OLTP?

OLTP refers to the Online Transaction Processing system. OLTP serves the purpose of recording the current Update, Insertion, and Deletion while carrying out a transaction.

One prominent feature of OLTP queries is that they are short and simple. As a result, they require less processing time. In addition, they require less space. 

A common day example of OLTP is an ATM. It employs short term transactions to modify the status of our account. The OLTP system usually becomes the data source for the OLAP.

If a transaction in OLTP fails in the middle, it may affect data integrity. In addition, the OLTP database consists of normalised tables and gets frequent updates. 

The main operations of OLTP are inserted, update, and delete. OLTP has practical applications in online banking, sending a text message, online airline ticket booking, and adding an item to the shopping cart.

OLTP is application-oriented and has prominent use in businesses. The size of data in an OLTP database is usually small, such as in MB or GB. 

The backup and recovery process of OLTP has strict maintenance. Moreover, managers or clerks usually must maintain this data. An OLTP database both reads and writes operations.

OLTP also serves the function of handling the ACID properties during data transactions. 

Main Differences Between OLAP and OLTP

  1. OLAP refers to a database system that stores the historical data input of OLTP. In contrast, OLTP serves the purpose of recording the current Update, Insertion, and Deletion while carrying out a transaction. 
  2. Since the transactions in OLAP are less frequent, it doesn’t care much about data integrity. On the other hand, OLTP databases take data integrity as a serious concern. 
  3. OLAP is subject-oriented; OLTP is application oriented. 
  4. The processing time of OLAP is longer than that for OLTP. On the other hand, the processing time for OLTP is shorter than that for OLAP. 
  5. OLAP has long transactions. In contrast, OLTP has long transactions. 
References
  1. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1423297/ 
  2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=eskZA1CFdqMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=olap+meaning&ots=W5YldKBjQk&sig=_2sB0PO8s4Cd3I8q60m44vfa9Vc 
One request?

I’ve put so much effort writing this blog post to provide value to you. It’ll be very helpful for me, if you consider sharing it on social media or with your friends/family. SHARING IS ♥️

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *