Difference Between OLTP and OLAP

OLTP:

• Operational data; OLTP's are the original source of the data.

• To control and run fundamental business tasks.

• Short and fast inserts and updates initiated by end users.

• Relatively standardized and simple queries Returning relatively few records.

• Backup religiously; operational data is critical to run the business, data loss is likely to entail significant monetary loss and legal liability.

OLAP:

• Consolidation data; OLAP data comes from the various OLTP Databases.
  
  
• To help with planning, problem solving, and decision support.
• Periodic long-running batch jobs refresh the data.
• Often complex queries involving aggregations.
• Instead of regular backups, some environments may consider simply reloading the OLTP data as a recovery method.