System and method for analytically modeling data organized according to a referenced attribute

1. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions, that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps comprising:

generating a data cube that comprises at least three dimensions, one of the dimensions being a first dimension that represents a first hierarchy comprising a first plurality of levels, the first plurality of levels comprising a root level, at least one intermediate level, and a leaf level;

responsive to a command, splitting the first dimension into two dimensions by: dividing the first hierarchy into a first sub-hierarchy and a second sub-hierarchy, whereby the root level of the first hierarchy becomes a root level of the first sub-hierarchy, a single one of the intermediate levels of the first hierarchy becomes both a leaf level of the first sub-hierarchy and a root level of the second sub-hierarchy, and the leaf level of the first hierarchy becomes a leaf level of the second sub-hierarchy;

adjusting the first dimension such that the first dimension represents only the first sub-hierarchy rather than the complete first hierarchy; and

adding an additional dimension to the data cube to represent the second sub-hierarchy; and

populating the data cube with data according to each dimension of the data cube including the additional dimension;

receiving a query that requests a portion of the data populated within the data cube including the additional dimension;

processing the query; and

displaying query results to a user.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 having further computer-executable instructions for performing the step of:

retrieving data from a relational database with which to generate the data cube.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the data cube is formatted for online analytical processing.

4. A method for query processing comprising:

generating a data cube that comprises at least three dimensions, one of the dimensions being a first dimension that represents a first hierarchy comprising a first plurality of levels, the first plurality of levels comprising a root level, at least one intermediate level, and a leaf level;

responsive to a command, splitting the first dimension into two dimensions by: dividing the first hierarchy into a first sub-hierarchy and a second sub-hierarchy, whereby the root level of the first hierarchy becomes a root level of the first sub-hierarchy, a single one of the intermediate levels of the first hierarchy becomes both a leaf level of the first sub-hierarchy and a root level of the second sub-hierarchy, and the leaf level of the first hierarchy becomes a leaf level of the second sub-hierarchy;

adjusting the first dimension such that the first dimension represents only the first sub-hierarchy rather than the complete first hierarchy; and

adding an additional dimension to the data cube to represent the second sub-hierarchy; and

populating the data cube with data according to each dimension of the data cube including the additional dimension;

receiving a query that requests a portion of the data populated within the data cube including the additional dimension;

processing the query; and

displaying query results to a user.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

retrieving data from a relational database with which to generate the data cube.

6. The method of claim 4 , comprising generating the data cube formatted for online analytical processing.

7. A system for query processing, the system comprising:

a processor operative to execute computer-executable instructions; and

memory having stored therein computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

generating a data cube that comprises at least three dimensions, one of the dimensions being a first dimension that represents a first hierarchy comprising a first plurality of levels, the first plurality of levels comprising a root level, at least one intermediate level, and a leaf level;

responsive to a command, splitting the first dimension into two dimensions by:

dividing the first hierarchy into a first sub-hierarchy and a second sub-hierarchy, whereby the root level of the first hierarchy becomes a root level of the first sub-hierarchy, a single one of the intermediate levels of the first hierarchy becomes both a leaf level of the first sub-hierarchy and a root level of the second sub-hierarchy, and the leaf level of the first hierarchy becomes a leaf level of the second sub-hierarchy;

adjusting the first dimension such that the first dimension represents only the first sub-hierarchy rather than the complete first hierarchy; and

adding an additional dimension to the data cube to represent the second sub-hierarchy; and

populating the data cube with data according to each dimension of the data cube including the additional dimension;

receiving a query that requests a portion of the data populated within the data cube including the additional dimension; and

processing the query; and displaying query results to a user.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the data cube is generated by retrieving data from a relational database.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the data cube is formatted for online analytical processing.