What is the difference between OLTP and OLAP systems in data processing architecture?

OLTP handles transactional workloads, while OLAP handles analytical queries over large datasets.

OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) systems are optimized for fast inserts, updates, and deletes with high concurrency and strict ACID compliance. OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) systems are designed for complex aggregations, scans, and reporting over historical data. OLTP databases use normalized schemas to reduce redundancy, whereas OLAP uses denormalized schemas like star or snowflake schemas to optimize query performance. In modern architectures, data is often replicated from OLTP systems into OLAP warehouses for analytics.