Patent ID: 8001112

Claim:
A method comprising: processing a relational query that contains at least one clause; wherein said relational query references relational database structures to access relational data stored in one or more tables; wherein said at least one clause defines: (a) in terms of said relational data, a multidimensional array having one or more array dimensions and a measure by specifying: (a1) for each array dimension of said one or more array dimensions, a column of said relational database structures that holds dimension values of said each array dimension; (a2) a column of said relational database structures that holds measure values of said measure; (b) at least one formula specifying an operation to perform on said multidimensional array; and wherein processing said relational query comprises: determining whether said relational data has previously been loaded into an analytic workspace; when said relational data has not previously been loaded into an analytic workspace, then loading said relational data from said one or more tables into multidimensional structures of an analytic workspace to transform said relational data into multidimensional data; evaluating said at least one clause by accessing said multidimensional structures to compute a formula result for said formula; producing query results for said relational query based on the formula result for said formula; and wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.