Rapid Application Development / Advanced Excel Development

Spreadsheet eg. of Dimensionality 2

The number 338 represents

• Period 8 2005 in the Time dimension
• Actual Figure in the Type dimension (Actual, Forecast, Budget, etc)
• For Employment Costs in the P&L line item dimension
• For the North in the geography dimension
• For Large Co in the business unit dimension

So this simple report actually has 5 dimensions, 5-7 dimensions is a common occurrence in business analysis. Many OLAP tools are optimised for this number of dimensions.

Spreadsheets are generally not the best choice for storing data this complex, they work better where there are only 2 dimensions. Spreadsheets can still be used for effective analysis and reporting though, especially Excel Pivot Tables.