Procedure: Employ the Automatic Discretization Method for Attribute Members in Analysis Services
When we browse a cube, we typically dimension the members
of one attribute hierarchy by the members of another attribute hierarchy. For
example, we might group customer sales by product purchased, by customer
geography (state, province or country), or by customer gender. However, with
certain types of attributes, it is useful to have Analysis Services automatically
create groupings of attribute members, particularly when large numbers of contiguous
values are involved, based upon the distribution of the members within an attribute
hierarchy.
As an example, let’s assume that we have been approached
by representatives of our hypothetical client, the Adventure Works
organization. These representatives, members of the Human Resources department
of the business, tell us that one of the existing attributes of the Employee dimension,
Vacation Hours, does not serve them well in browses and reports, as the many
different values are simply listed: the members are simply derived from the
unique Vacation Hours values in the VacationHours column of the DimEmployee
table that underlies the Analysis Services layer of the business intelligence
solution. (The developer of the cube, having returned to his home country, is
no longer available to assist the HR department in modifying the Vacation Hours
presentation into a more useful format.)
We listen to the description of the problem, and then
suggest grouping the Vacation Hours information via the pre-defined Automatic
discretization method offered within Analysis Services. We suggest this as a
starter approach, so that our client colleagues can see how grouping the values
in this manner might make the data more meaningful in browsing / reporting. We
tell them that, once we do this, information consumers who browse the Vacation
Hours attribute hierarchy will see the names / values of the groups instead of
the members themselves. This limits the number of levels that are presented to
users, which can be less confusing, and more useful for analysis. (We inform
the client representatives, too, that other methods of discretization can be
leveraged if the Automatic method proves less than ideal – we are simply
suggesting the Automatic method as a good starting point to illustrate an
approach to meeting the end objective – an approach that we can easily “tweak”
once our colleagues understand the general concept of discretization, and can
then make intelligent choices with regard to specific nuances that they might
deem desirable.
Browse the Existing, Ungrouped Members within the Attribute Hierarchy
We
will begin our practice with the Automatic discretization method within the Vacation
Hours attribute hierarchy of the Employee dimension.
1.
Within the Solution
Explorer, right-click the Employee dimension (expand the Dimensions folder as
necessary).
2.
Click Open on
the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 3.
Illustration 3: Opening the Dimension via the Dimension Designer ...
The
tabs of the Dimension Designer open. Let’s look at the current state of the
attribute under consideration, Vacation Hours.
3.
Click the Browser
tab.
4.
Select Vacation
Hours within the dropdown Hierarchy selector atop the Browse tab, as depicted in Illustration 4.
Illustration 4: Select the Vacation Hours Hierarchy to Browse ...
The attributes belonging to the Vacation Hours attribute hierarchy appear as partially shown in
Illustration 5.
Illustration 5: The Member Attributes, Vacation Hours Attribute Hierarchy of the Employee Dimension
We
note that many contiguous values appear. It is easy to see how grouping these
values into logical “buckets” might make the data easier for information
consumers to analyze.
Add Automatic Discretization within the Attribute Hierarchy
We
will enact the Automatic discretization method from the Dimension Structure tab
of the Employee dimension.
1.
Click the Dimension
Structure tab.
2.
Within the Attributes
pane, select Vacation Hours (the bottom attribute hierarchy in the pane).
The Properties window for the attribute appears (by default
in the bottom right corner of the design environment), as depicted in Illustration 6.
Illustration 6: The Properties Window for the Vacation Hours Attribute
3. In the Properties window, click
the setting box to the right of the DiscretizationMethod property (which
currently contains the word “None”), to enable the selector on the right edge
of the box.
4. Select Automatic within the
selector, as shown in Illustration 7.
Illustration 7: Changing the DiscretizationMethod Property Setting to “Automatic” ...
The DiscretizationMethod property specifies the method
used to group the members of the owner attribute. Once we tell Analysis
Services the method of discretization, we can tell it how many “buckets” to
create for purposes of grouping the attribute members.
5. In the setting box to the right of
the DiscretizationBucketCount property (which currently contains the “0”), replace the value for the DiscretizationBucketCount property with
the number 10.
The DiscretizationBucketCount property specifies the
number of buckets in which to discretize members of the attribute to which the
property belongs. The default setting is “0”. When we leave the DiscretizationBucketCount property at default, Analysis
Services generates the number of groups independently, after sampling the
underlying data involved.
The affected portion of
the Properties window for the Vacation Hours attribute hierarchy appears as
depicted (modifications surrounded by the red box) in Illustration 8.
Illustration 8: Properties Window for the Vacation Hours Attribute Hierarchy, with Modifications
We are now ready to process the Analysis Services
database, and then to examine the results of our handiwork with the browsers,
as before.
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