Designing & Creating the Local Cube with the PivotTable Report
We now
have a PivotTable report, with its connection to the Warehouse and
Sales server cube, in place, from which we can create our local cube.
The rest of the process is easy, although planning is critical to ascertain the
needs of the information consumers for whose remote use we are designing and
creating the local cube.
For
more information on the general creation and use of a PivotTable report, see Reporting
Options for Analysis Services Cubes: MS Excel 2002.
23.
Click-select
the Customers dimension on the PivotTable Field List.
24.
In the lower
section of the PivotTable Field List, select Row Area.
25.
Click the Add
button to add Customers to the Row Area of the PivotTable report.
26.
Click-select
the Time dimension on the PivotTable Field List.
27.
In the lower
section of the PivotTable Field List, select Page Area.
28.
Click the Add
button to add Customers to the Page Area of the PivotTable report.
29.
Click-select
the Supply Time dimension on the PivotTable Field List.
30.
In the lower
section of the PivotTable Field List, select Data Area.
31.
Click the Add
button to add Customers to the Data Area of the PivotTable report.
The
resulting, admittedly minimal, PivotTable report should resemble the one
shown in Illustration 11.
Illustration 11: The
Shell PivotTable Report
We will
use the above as a basis for creating our local cube. We will see that this is
enough to get the process underway in the next steps.
32.
Click the PivotTable
report to select it.
33.
Click the
downward pointing arrow on the right side of PivotTable, on the PivotTable
toolbar.
34.
Select Offline
OLAP ... from the dropdown menu, as depicted in Illustration 12.
Illustration 12: Select
Offline OLAP ... from the PivotTable Menu
The Offline
OLAP Settings dialog appears, as shown in Illustration 13.
Illustration 13: The Offline
OLAP Settings Dialog
35.
Click the Create
Offline Data File button on the Offline OLAP Settings dialog
(circled in red in Illustration 13 above).
The Create
Cube File - Step 1 of 4 dialog appears, as depicted in Illustration 14.
Illustration 14: The
Create Cube File - Step 1 of 4 Dialog
The Create Cube File - Step 2 of 4 dialog appears, as
shown in Illustration 15.
Illustration 15: The
Create Cube File - Step 2 of 4 Dialog
A
comparison to the items on the PivotTable Toolbar will reveal that the Create
Cube File Step 2 of 4 dialog contains all the dimensions that are
available for selection in the cube residing on the server. The checked boxes
indicate the dimensions that appear in the PivotTable report itself.
Note: This avenue of selection, within
the Create Cube File - Step 2 of 4 dialog, means we can do all selection
here, avoiding the need to create an elaborate PivotTable report that includes
all the dimensions and measures we want to incorporate into our local cube.
This is an opportunity to save time, and the reason that we put a minimal
amount of design into the PivotTable report earlier. (There is a
minimal requirement for data to enable the Offline OLAP Settings
option on the dropdown menu, however.)
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