Patent ID: 7831615

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for analyzing data records in a MOLAP multidimensional database, comprising: receiving, using one or more processors, a plurality of data records, wherein each data record includes a plurality of dimensional hierarchies; receiving one or more discrete values for a data record, each discrete value representing an element in a dimensional hierarchy; generating a dimensional hierarchy vector corresponding to the structural characteristics of the dimensional hierarchy, the dimensional hierarchy vector describing a structural relationship indicating where each element appears in the dimensional hierarchy with respect to other elements within the dimensional hierarchy; creating one or more keys, wherein each key has a corresponding; assigning a key to each element; using the one or more keys to index the elements within the dimensional hierarchy vector, the indexed elements forming a first index vector; normalizing the MOLAP multidimensional database using the first index vector, wherein normalizing includes replacing each element with the numeric key value assigned to the each element; receiving a query involving two or more dimensional relationships within the dimensional hierarchy; using the query to formulate a logical expression based upon the dimensional hierarchy vector; using the logical expression to generate a second index vector including the one or more keys; and using the second index vector to scan each data record in the plurality of data records in the normalized MOLAP multidimensional database in O(N) time in order to locate one or more data records that fulfill the logical expression.