The disclosed embodiments provide a system that processes data. During operation, the system obtains, in a buffer, records to be included in a data segment as the records are generated, wherein each of the records comprises one or more metrics and at least one dimension associated with the one or more metrics. After the buffer reaches a threshold size, the system creates a data segment comprising at least one of a forward index and an inverted index for a column in the records. The system then enables querying of the data segment and a set of offline data segments comprising older records of the one or more metrics and the at least one dimension.