GENERATING MULTIDIMENSIONAL OUTPUT USING META-MODELS AND META-OUTLINE

Improved techniques for generating multidimensional output using a relational source database are disclosed. The techniques allow generation of instructions needed to access the source database in order to produce multidimensional output. The instructions do not need to be stored and can be generated dynamically. As a result, relational databases can be accessed without requiring additional programming and/or changes to the relational database. The source database can be a relational database that is accessed by a variety of conceptual accessing techniques (e.g., SQL). A Meta-data manager can be used to access the source database, as well as interact with a Meta-data modeler and a Meta-data outliner. The Meta-data modeler can be used to define a Meta-model. The Meta-data outliner can be used to create one or more Meta-outlines. The Meta-model and Meta outline, together, provide a mechanism for describing the semantics of relational and OLAP models in a way that bi-directional access to physical structures in data bases can be accomplished without having to rely on “hard-coded” data values.