Introduction to MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services Custom Cubes: Financial Reporting (Part I) - Page 7

The list of columns in the expense_fact table appears in the Details pane on the right half of the dialog. As most of us realize, expenses, or costs, are not the only components of an Income / Profit & Loss Statement. Our plan is to add in the revenue / sales and other necessary information after we create our basic cube. We will discuss methods of accomplishing this at a later stage in our cube design and creation.

5.      Click OK.

The Fact Table Row Count message box appears, asking if we want to count fact table rows, as shown below.

6.      Click Yes.

The Cube Editor window appears, showing the cube tree (top) and properties pane (bottom) on the left side of the window, and the fact table schema (the Schema tab view) on the right, by default. The window should appear as depicted in Illustration 14 below.

Click for larger image Illustration 14: The Cube Editor, with the Expense_Fact Table Schema View (Compressed)

7.      Add the following measure to the Measures folder, by dragging it from the expense_fact table, and dropping it onto the folder:

• amount

The selected measure field appears in the Measures folder (initial caps is an automatic conversion feature, as we have noted in earlier lessons) as shown below:

A cube must contain a minimum of one measure from the designated fact table; in addition, it must also contain at least one dimension that is associated with a key column in the table.