1. A data processing method comprising: providing a set of database tables in a data warehouse, each database table being assigned to an entity type and storing entities of its entity type; providing a set of online analytical processing cubes in a data warehouse, each online analytical processing cube specifying a layout for transactional data storage; providing at least one application program for processing at least one class of database tables and at least one class of online analytical processing cubes; mapping a sub-set of the set of database tables to the at least one class of database tables, the sub-set of database tables comprising database tables of one or more entity types; mapping a sub-set of the set of online analytical processing cubes to the at least one class of online analytical processing cubes; invoking an online analytical processing component to fill the online analytical processing cubes with transactional data; processing the entities stored in the sub-set of database tables and the transactional data stored in the sub-set of online analytical processing cubes by the application program; and providing analysis of the entities and the transactional data processed by the application program to a user.