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Introduction to MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services Custom Cubes: Financial Reporting (Part I) - Page 5

January 6, 2003

We should get a verification dialog confirming that the source has been established in our definition (as shown in Illustration 7).


Illustration 7: Verification of the Connection to the FoodMart 2000 Database

  1. Click OK, and the Microsoft Data Link verification dialog box closes.

We will leave all the other Data Link Properties at their default setpoints for now.

  1. Click OK on the Data Link Properties dialog.

The Data Link Properties dialog closes, and we can see that the new source appears under the Data Sources folder in the tree area, on the left side of the Management Console, displaying the actual file name, as shown below.


Illustration 8: Initial view of Our Newly Created Data Source

As we mentioned in Lesson One, and at numerous other points in the series, a simple "rename" capability is not available, so we will have to be creative here; a right-mouse click on our new data source allows a Copy action, which will serve as a workaround for renaming the object in question, to be a bit more concise.

  1. Right-click the new data source.
  2. Click Copy.
  3. Highlight the Data Sources folder.
  4. Select Paste from the popup menu.

This causes Analysis Services to indicate that a duplicate has been detected, and to prompt us for a unique name. We will respond to the new name request with FoodMartFinRep, using the dialog box that appears (as shown below in Illustration 9).


Illustration 9: Changing the Name of the Newly Copied Data Source as a Means of Renaming

  1. Type FoodMartFinRep into the Name box of the Duplicate Name dialog.

Once we click OK, the Duplicate Name dialog disappears, and the newly named data source appears under the Data Sources folder.

  1. Click OK to close the Duplicate Name dialog.

All that remains is to delete the original data source, from which we cloned FoodMartFinRep.

  1. Right-click the original data source, and select Delete on the popup menu
  2. Click the Yes button, to confirm the deletion.

Our tree should now resemble that shown in Illustration 10.


Illustration 10: MyFoodMart2000 Appears in the Tree

In Lesson One, we used the Cube Wizard, together with the subsidiary specialized wizards (including the Dimension Wizard), as called by the Cube Wizard, to rapidly create a simple cube to explore the various aspects and steps of the process from a relatively high level. In this lesson, we will create a core cube from the fact table upon which we will base the rest of the cube design and construction, together with several new components and settings that illustrate the objectives of our lesson.

Our preparation for the lesson (and for the creation of any cube) is complete. We now have an OLAP database in place, linked to a valid data source (the sample FoodMart 2000 database). Next, we will initialize the Cube Editor, and begin creating our cube.

Page 6: Creating the Cube - Expense Focus