Create a Cube and
Work with Measure Groups
Create a Basic Cube
We will create a basic
cube, to house our Measures, and the Measure Groups to which they
will belong. We will focus upon other areas within the overall design and
creation process in other articles of the series – our primary objective here
is to gain some familiarity with Measure Groups – not to concern
ourselves with the myriad other options and topics contained within general
cube design.
1.
Right-click
the Cubes folder within the Solution Explorer.
2.
Select New
Cube ... from the context menu that appears, as depicted in Illustration 25.
Illustration 25: Select
New Cube to Begin Cube Creation
The Welcome to the
Cube Wizard dialog appears, as shown in Illustration 26.
Illustration 26: The
Welcome to the Cube Wizard Dialog Appears ...
3.
Click Next.
4.
Ensure that Build
the cube using a data source checkbox is selected on the Select Build
Method dialog that appears next, along with the Auto build checkbox,
and with Create attributes and hierarchies selected in the drop-down
selector underneath the Auto build setting.
These
default settings are depicted in Illustration 27.
Illustration 27:
Ensuring the Default Settings on the Select Build Method Dialog
These settings will allow the Wizard to leverage the technology built into Analysis Services, and to detect
the relationships between attributes, dimensions, and facts within the data
source we have defined. While we will not accept all the judgments that the
wizard makes, we can still take advantage of the actions it performs, and
modify or eliminate those that are inappropriate or of no use to us.
5.
Click Next.
6.
Ascertain that
the Data Source View we have created, Adventure Works DW, is
selected within the Available data source views list on the left side of
the Select Data Source View dialog, which appears next. (The tables
contained within the Data Source View are displayed on the right side of
the dialog).
The Select Data Source
View dialog appears, as shown in Illustration 28.
Illustration 28: Select
AdventureWorks DW as the Data Source View
The Cube
Wizard begins scanning the relational schema, identifying fact and
dimensional tables, as indicated on the Detecting Fact and Dimension Tables
page that appears next. We quickly receive a message indicating that the Wizard
has completed its analysis of the relationships between tables in the Data
Source View, and that it proposes its suggestions on the following page, as
depicted in Illustration 29.
Illustration 29: The
Detecting Fact and Dimension Tables Page Indicates Completion ...
The Identify
Fact and Dimension Tables dialog next appears. Let's select a Time
dimension table, and narrow the table selection somewhat, for the purposes
of our rudimentary cube.
9.
Select the DimTime
table in the drop-down Time dimension table selector.
10.
Uncheck the following checkboxes:
Dimension Column: DimCurrency
NOTE: We can also make table selections graphically via the Diagram
tab of the Identify Fact and Dimension Tables dialog.
The Identify Fact and Dimension Tables dialog appears, as shown in Illustration 30.
Illustration 30: The
Identify Fact and Dimension Tables Dialog, with Our Modifications
The Select
Time Periods dialog appears.
12.
Leaving any
unspecified columns blank, select the Time Table Columns values shown in
Table 1 for each of the listed Time Property Names.
|
Time Property
Name
|
Time Table
Columns
|
|
Year
|
CalendarYear
|
|
Quarter
|
CalendarQuarter
|
|
Month
|
EnglishMonthName
|
|
Date
|
FullDateAlternateKey
|
Table 1: Selections within Respective Time Table Columns in
Select Time Periods Dialog
The Select Time Periods dialog appears, with our selections, as depicted in Illustration 31.
Illustration 31: The
Select Time Periods Dialog, with Our Selections
The Select
Measures dialog appears next.
14.
Uncheck the following checkboxes:
-
Revision
Number
-
Discount
Amount
-
Product
Standard Cost
-
Tax Amt
-
Freight
The Select Measures dialog appears, as partially shown in Illustration 32.
Illustration 32: The
Select Measures Dialog (Partial View), with Adjusted Selections
The Detecting
Hierarchies page appears next, as hierarchy detection begins. We receive
rapid indication that dimension tables have been scanned and hierarchies
detected, as depicted in Illustration 33.
Illustration 33: The
Detecting Hierarchies Page, with Indication of Relationships Detected
We
move to the Review New Dimensions page, which appears as shown in Illustration
34.
Illustration 34: The
Review New Dimensions Page
The Completing
the Wizard page appears next.
18.
Change the
default Cube name to the following:
ANSYS048 – Measure Groups
The Completing
the Wizard page appears as depicted
in Illustration 35.
Illustration 35: The
Completing the Wizard Page
The
Wizard concludes, and the Cube Designer opens, as shown in Illustration
36.
Illustration 36: The
Cube Designer Opens ...
Here, within
the multi-tabbed Cube Designer component of the Business Intelligence
Development Studio, we can perform myriad enhancements and extensions to,
and operations surrounding, the selected cube. We examine these new features
in other articles of my Introduction to MSSQL
Server Analysis Services series, where we define business needs
and then meet them with the appropriate functionality(ies). For the purposes of
this article, let's get some exposure to Measure Groups, and verify
their effectiveness in our basic cube.
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