Designing OLAP Dimensions

Enabling Various Views Finance Operations Profit by Division by Country by Month by Actual/Budget Revenue by Product by Region by Sales Rep by Quarter Revenue by Customer by Industry by Channel by Week Sales Marketing Volume by Plant by Shift by Product by Day Analysis Server

Understanding Levels and Members Four Levels All Category Sub-Category Product Category Members Bread Dairy Meat Product Dimension

Reviewing Analysis Services Limits ItemsLimits Dimensions per database65,535 Levels per database65,535 Dimensions per cube128 Levels per cube256 Levels per dimension64 Members per parent64,000 Length of dimension name24 characters

Working with Standard Dimensions Country State City Each Level Corresponds to a Dimension Table Column All Members at a Given Level Have the Same Number of Ancestors Can Be Star or Snowflake Dimensions

Working with Ragged Dimensions Country State City No States Variable Depth in Branches Level Property Hide Member If

Assigning Member Keys and Names Defining the Member Key Column Determines the members included in a level Usually comes from a single dimension table column Defining the Member Name Column Provides names for members at a level Can be different from the Member Key Column

Creating Members from Expressions Add Flexibility When Defining Levels Are Created from One or More Columns in a Single Table Are Defined in the Member Key Column and Member Name Column in the Dimension Editor Act as RDBMS Pass-Through Functions Must be Valid RDBMS Syntax

Using Member Properties Why Member Properties? Information Needed for Analysis that Does Not Make Sense as a New Dimension or Level A Starting Point for Creating Virtual Dimensions Used in MDX Queries for Analysis Impact of Member Properties Do Not Affect Cube Size Do Not Significantly Affect Cube Processing Times Are Stored in Dimension Structure Files

Creating Time Dimensions Using the Dimension Wizard Contains Built-In Intelligence Defines Entire Hierarchy From a Single Date/Time Column Uses Appropriate Functions Depending on Data Source Using a Separate Date Table Contains Additional Date Properties Reduces Storage Space Can be Used with Multiple Fact Tables

Setting Time Dimension Properties Some MDX Functions Use Time Dimension Properties Third-Party Products Use Time Properties Several Time Dimension Level Properties Exist The Type Property Has No Effect on the Analysis Server

Working with Shared Dimensions Created Once and Shared by One or More Cubes in a Database Cannot Be Changed to Private Maintained in Dimension Editor Administered in One Place Cause All Cubes Using that Dimension to be Unavailable for Querying After Rebuilding Structure Identified by a Sharing Hand Icon:

Working with Private Dimensions Created and Used within Single Cube Maintained in Cube Editor, Not Dimension Editor Cannot Be Changed to Shared Rebuilt Automatically with Cube Process Identified by Dimension Icon:

Defining the All Level Summarizes All Data at Top Level of Dimension Is Included by Default Is Named All DimensionName by Default For example, All Product Can Be Turned Off within the Dimension Editor Cannot Be Defined by the Member Key Column or the Member Name Column Can Be Renamed Using the All Caption Property

Specifying a Default Member

Defining a Hierarchy A Hierarchy Is a Set of Members and Levels within a Dimension By Default, a Dimension Contains One Hierarchy A Dimension Can Contain Multiple Hierarchies

Creating Multiple Hierarchies Department Dimension Department.Management Region 1 Department.Region Region 2 Department A Department D Department C Department B Manager 1 Department B Department D Department C Department A Manager 2 Two Hierarchies

Overview of Parent-Child Dimensions Are Based on a Two Column Dimension Table Contain Levels Created by Parent-Child Relationships Contain Unbalanced Levels Are Created with the Dimension Wizard Can Slow Queries that Reference Them

Structure of a Parent-Child Dimension EmployeeManager Smith JonesSmith WhiteSmith BlockJones HartJones KnightJones FoxHart HuntHart SmartHunt

Loading Data To Non-Leaf Members Steve Eric MikeCoreySusan JohnDiana Beth (Steve) (John) (Diana)

Members with Data In Standard Dimensions, Only Leaf Members Can Correspond to Fact Table Data In Parent-Child Dimensions, Leaf and Upper Level Members Correspond to Fact Table Data The Members with Data Property Has Three Possible Settings: Leaf Members Only Non-leaf Data Hidden Non-leaf Data Visible

Reviewing Analysis Services Limits ItemsLimits Dimensions per database65,535 Levels per database65,535 Dimensions per cube128 Levels per cube256 Levels per dimension64 Members per parent64,000 Length of dimension name24 characters

Creating a Grouping Level All Large Level Grouping Level A – G H – O O – Z

Grouping Members into Levels: Two Solutions Analysis Services Auto-grouping Create Intermediate Parents Approx. Square Root of Members Can Hide Using Visible Property Custom Grouping Using Expressions Custom Intermediate Parents Use SQL Expressions