Why OLAP?
"Business Intelligence Projects using OLAP are not Mission Critical, but they are Business Critical".

• Users have direct access to information
  
• Eliminates the need for a "report gopher"
  
• Puts information into the hands of the decision makers
  
• Allows users to ask questions of the database
  
• High Return on Investment
  
• Easier to maintain than most relational systems because of the inherent calculation properties of a cube
  
• Relatively easy to build and develop
  
• Quick development cycle
  
• OLAP has become the analytical standard
  
• Lower costs have increased usage of OLAP products
  
• Most RDBMS systems now include an OLAP tool
  
• In 2002 the OLAP market is projected at over $3 billion
  
• By 2004 the market is projected to be at over $5 billion
  
• A multidimensional cube can combine data from disparate data sources and store the information in a fashion that is logical for business users.
  
  

For more technical information, check out this Oracle 9i integrated OLAP whitepaper.