As a part of making our
cube more user-friendly for information consumers, we wish to substitute the
dimension names that it currently presents with more intuitive dimension
fields. Let's begin with the time_by_day table.
In a case where we may
not be familiar with the nature of the data or the characteristics of the
fields in a given table, such as our time_by_day table, we can browse the data
to get a look at its makeup.
26.
Click the upper portion (where
the name appears) of the time_by_day table to select the table.
27.
Right-click and select Browse
Data from the context menu, as shown in Illustration 40.
Illustration 40: Select
Browse Data to View a Sample of a Table's Data
The Browse
Data Viewer appears, as shown in Illustration 41 below.
Illustration 41:
Partial View of the Browse Data Viewer
28.
Close the viewer after
reviewing the data columns and the formats of their contents.
29. In the Cube Tree, expand the existing Calendar.Time
dimension by clicking the "+" sign to its immediate left.
Beginning with the Calendar.Time
dimension, and proceeding to the remaining dimensions, we will substitute a
more user-friendly field than the original key number, from the related
dimension table.
30.
Select the Calendar Time
dimension level member (the single level under the Calendar.Time dimension), as
shown below:
Illustration 42:
Calendar.Time Dimension as Currently Constructed
31.
Right-click the Calendar Time
dimension level member.
32.
Select Delete from the context
menu.
33.
Click Yes at the Confirm
Level Delete dialog to delete the member.
34.
Perform steps 33 through 35 for
the Store and Category dimension level members, respectively.
We should now have each
dimension in place, with no levels under each of the Calendar.Time, Store
and Category dimensions. We will add dimension levels from the
dimension tables in the next steps.
35.
Drag the following fields from the
time_by_day table over to drop onto the Calendar.Time dimension in the
cube tree, in the order shown:
- the_year
- quarter
- the_month
- the_date
36.
Right-click on each of the
above newly added dimension levels, and rename each, respectively, to the
following:
- Calendar Year
- Calendar Quarter
- Calendar Month
- Date
Dragging the fields
onto the folder in the order above, then changing their names, will result in
their alignment as shown below:
Illustration 43:
Calendar.Time Dimension with New Member Additions / Modifications
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