Procedure
Define
Perspectives within the Cube
Let's
create a couple of Perspectives to get some experience with the process.
For purposes of our practice session, we will say that we have been asked by a
the Adventure Works organization to create a simplified "view,"
for each of two groups of internal consumers of data, that is contained in the ANSYS050_Perspective
cube we have created. First, we are told, we need a subset of cube data that
presents data related to forecasting (mostly information surrounding sales
quotas) for the Planning department consumers. Next, we need actual sales and related
data for a group of consumers within the Operations department.
As we
noted earlier, we can select our choice of cube objects (including dimensions,
attributes, hierarchies, measure groups, measures, calculations, KPIs and
actions) for inclusion within each Perspective. Let's create a couple of
Perspectives within our cube to meet the expressed client needs by taking
the following steps:
1.
Click the Perspectives
tab atop the Cube Designer, as depicted in Illustration 43.
Illustration 43: Click
the Perspectives Tab ...
The Perspectives page appears. Here, we see a list
of the Cube Objects making up the Perspective, grouped by object
type, and subgrouped by parent structures, as appropriate.
2.
Right-click
the "blank" space to the right of the objects list.
3.
Select New
Perspective from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration
44.
Illustration 44: Creating
a New Perspective
Upon initiating Perspective creation, we see a new
column, Perspective Name appear, underneath which the default selection
of "all available objects" accompanies the start of new Perspective
creation. For this reason, every cube is born with at least one "Perspective"
– with the name of the cube itself. Creating a Perspective is largely a
process of starting with all possible cube objects, and eliminating those that
we do not need, to form the subset presented within the new Perspective,
as we shall see.
We will first create a Perspective to house objects
of interest to the Planning component of the client information
consumers.
4.
Click the box
labeled Perspective Name in the new column.
5.
Replace the
existing Perspective Name ("Perspective") with the following:
ANSYS050 - Planning
The Perspective Name input box appears, with our
replacement, as depicted in Illustration 45.
Illustration 45: Adding
the Perspective Name
6.
In the objects
list, expand Measure Groups (if not already expanded) by clicking the "+"
sign to the left of the label, as shown in Illustration 46.
Illustration 46: Expanding
Measure Groups ...
The
individual Measure Groups are displayed. Assuming that the Measure
Groups already correspond with the consumer groups for which we are creating
Perspectives, the creation of Perspectives, based upon associated
Measure Groups, can be convenient, indeed. While this is the case in our
present scenario, we might also select individual measures for exclusion (as we
shall see shortly), by simply expanding a level further into the appropriate Measure
Groups.
7.
Deselect the
following Measure Groups, by "unchecking" them.
-
Fact
Internet Sales
-
Fact
Internet Sales Reason
This
leaves the Sales Quota Measure Group, which is relevant to the
Planning department consumers, in place, by itself, within the Planning
Perspective. Next, we will remove dimensions that are not useful to the
Planning consumers within the context of the stated business requirements.
8.
Expand Dimensions
by clicking the "+" sign to the left of the label.
9.
Deselect the
following entries underneath the Dimensions group:
-
Fact Internet
Sales
-
Dim Customer
-
Dim Product
-
Dim Promotion
-
Fact Internet
Sales – Ship Date
-
Fact Internet
Sales – Due Date
-
Fact Internet
Sales – Order Date
(This
means that the only remaining, selected Dimensions are Dim Employee,
Dim Time, and Dim Sales Territory).
The object list appears, with our modifications, as
depicted in Illustration 47.
Illustration 47: Measure
Group and Dimensions Selected for the Planning Perspective
In
addition to the Planning Perspective, we will next create a Perspective
to meet the needs of the Operations consumers.
10.
Right-click
the "blank" space to the right of the objects list, once again.
11.
Select New
Perspective from the context menu that appears, as we did earlier.
Another new column, again with a default name of "Perspective,"
appears. We also note, as before, that the default selection of "all available
objects" is apparent in the new Perspective column. We have only
to rename the Perspective and to remove cube objects that are not
relevant to the Operations consumers, to create a custom "view" of
the cube for those users.
12.
Click the box
labeled Perspective Name in the new column, as we did for our first Perspective.
13.
Replace the
existing Perspective Name ("Perspective") with the following:
ANSYS050 - Operations
14.
In the objects
list once again, expand Measure Groups by clicking the "+"
sign to the left of the label, if necessary.
The
individual Measure Groups are again displayed. While the Measure
Group Fact Internet Sales correspond largely with the needs of the
Operations consumer group, we will eliminate one measure within the Measure
Group that the consumers have indicated to lay beyond their immediate
interests, Unit Price Discount Percent.
15.
Expand the Fact Internet Sales Measure Group by clicking the "+"
sign to the left of its label.
16.
Deselect the Unit Price Discount Percent measure.
17.
Deselect the
following Measure Groups:
-
Fact Sales
Quota
-
Fact
Internet Sales Reason
This
leaves the Fact Internet Sales Measure Group, which is relevant
to the Operations department consumers, in place within the new Operations
Perspective. Next, we will remove dimensions that are not useful to the
Operations consumers within the context of business needs they have
communicated.
18.
Expand Dimensions,
if collapsed, by clicking the "+" sign to the left of the label.
19.
Deselect the Dim
Employee entry underneath the Dimensions group within the new Operations
Perspective column.
The object list appears (settings highlighted for the
relevant settings), with our modifications, as shown in Illustration 48.
Illustration 48: Settings
for the New Operations Perspective (Circled)
We
have completed the creation of the two Perspectives that the client
representatives have requested. Having taken the steps required to meet
the business requirements, we are ready to browse the cube and verify the
effectiveness of our new Perspectives. Before we can do this, we must deploy
our Analysis Services solution. We will do so in the section that
follows.
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