MSAS: Defining Cube Properties

Each object in the properties pane of the Cube Editor has its own set of properties which can be used to modify the settings of the object.  The properties of a cube defined in the properties pane are as tabulated below.  In this section we shall use these properties to set the properties of our cubes.

Aggregation Prefix: This is a prefix appended to aggregation name for the cube's partitions, provided that the partition's aggregation prefix begins with a plus sign (+). In this case, this property's value is appended to the beginning of the partition's aggregation prefix. If the partition's aggregation prefix does not begin with a plus sign, this property is ignored. To access the aggregation prefix for a partition, in the Analysis Manager tree pane, right-click the partition, click Edit, advance to the Finish step of the Partition Wizard, and then click Advanced

Data Source : The data source for the cube. The partitions of the cube can have different data sources.

Default Measure : The measure that is returned by queries when no measure is displayed on an axis and no slicing measure is specified. If no default measure is specified, an arbitrary measure is the default measure.

 Description : The description of the cube.

 Fact Table: The fact table for the cube. The partitions of the cube can have different fact tables.

 

Fact Table Size: The number of rows in the fact table of the cube at the time they were last counted by Analysis Services, or a user-provided estimate of the number of rows.

 Key Error Limit: Limit for the number of dimension key errors. The default is 0. Cube processing is halted and cancelled when the limit is exceeded, provided that the Stop Processing on Key Errors property of the cube is Yes. If you select Yes and a Key Error Limit value is greater than 0, and processing completes, the data in the cube does not reflect the entire fact table. The Key Error Limit property is ignored if the Stop Processing on Key Errors property is No.

 Key Error Log File: Path and file name of the log file for dimension key errors.

 Name: The name of the cube.

 Processing Optimization Mode: Values of the Processing Optimization Mode property are Regular (processed data is available after all aggregations have been computed) or Lazy Aggregations (processed data is available immediately after data has been loaded). This property only applies to MOLAP partitions of a cube.

 Source Table Filter: The WHERE clause expression applied to the partitions' fact tables to limit the data in the cube. This property provides defaults for the filters in the partitions of the cube. These filters override this property. To access a filter in a partition, in the Analysis Manager tree pane, right-click the partition, click Edit, advance to the Finish step of the Partition Wizard, and then click Advanced.

 Stop Processing on Key Errors: If  the user selects Yes, processing is halted and cancelled when the limit for the number of dimension key errors is exceeded. This limit is specified in the Key Error Limit property of the cube. A dimension key error occurs when a fact table row is encountered that contains a foreign key value not present in the joined primary key column of a dimension table.  If the user selects No, dimension key errors never halt or cancel cube processing regardless of the number of errors encountered. If one or more dimension key errors are encountered, the data in the cube does not reflect the entire fact table.

 Visible: Indicates whether the cube is visible when end users browse the list of available cubes.  Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Analysis Services, also offers many powerful optional features that can be used to enhance the analysis performed in cubes and the presentation of cube data. There are additional optional features for dimensions that further enhance cube capabilities.  These have already been discussed in the lesson “Using Advanced Dimension Settings”. 

Calculated members : Function libraries are used to create members that display values calculated at run time.

 Calculated cells: Calculated cells are used to create a multidimensional section of cells, defined by a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) set expression, to which an MDX value expression is selectively applied depending upon a condition described by an MDX logical expression

 Named sets: Named sets are sets of dimension members or sets of Multi dimensional expressions that are created for use in a cube.  The options for creating different kinds of named sets are available under the properties pane of the Cube editor.  For instance in a Salesperson dimension the user can create named sets for sales persons with the highest sales and the lowest sales.  Then in the client application the end user can place the named sets on an axis in a manner similar to a dimension.

 Actions: End user initiated operations on a portion of a cube are called actions.  Actions enable the end users act upon the output of their analysis.  They can go beyond the traditional analysis and initiate solutions to problems discovered during the analysis.  They transform the client application from mere data rendering tools to a dynamic part of the enterprises operations.  We will learn more about actions in the lesson “Using Actions, Drillthrough and Writeback”.

Drillthrough operations : Users are allowed to see the source data for a cube cell when Drillthrough operations are enabled for a cube.