Using a Modified Version of the Analysis Services Tutorial Project

The remaining seven lessons in this tutorial are based on an enhanced version of the Analysis Services Tutorial project that you completed in the first three lessons. Additional tables and named calculations have been added to the Adventure Works DW data source view; additional dimensions have been added to the project, and these new dimensions have been added to the Analysis Services Tutorial cube; a second measure group has been added, which contains measures from a second fact table. This enhanced project will let you continue learning how to add functionality to your business intelligence application without having to repeat the skills you have already learned.

Before you can continue with the tutorial, you must load and process the enhanced version of the Analysis Services Tutorial project.

Note

To obtain the updated version of this enhanced tutorial project required to continue with this tutorial, you must download the updated samples from the Microsoft download site. For information see Obtaining Updated Samples in Installing Samples.

Loading and Processing the Enhanced Project

To load and process the enhanced tutorial project

  1. On the File menu, click Close Solution.

  2. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Project/Solution.

  3. Browse to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Samples\Analysis Services\Tutorials\Lesson4 Start, and then double-click Analysis Services Tutorial.sln.

  4. Deploy the enhanced version of the Analysis Services Tutorial project to the local instance of Analysis Services, or to another instance, and verify that processing completes successfully.

Understanding the Enhancements to the Project

The enhanced version of the project is different from the version of the Analysis Services Tutorial project that you completed in the first three lessons. The differences are described in the following sections. Review this information before continuing with the remaining lessons in the tutorial.

Data Source View

The data source view in the enhanced project contains one additional fact table and four additional dimension tables from the AdventureWorksDW database. The data source view is shown in the follow diagram.

Data source view for enhanced tutorial project

Notice that with ten tables in the data source view, the <All Tables> diagram is becoming crowded, which makes it difficult to easily understand the relationships between the tables and to locate specific tables. To solve this problem, the tables are organized into two logical diagrams, the Internet Sales diagram and the Reseller Sales diagram. These diagrams are each organized around a single fact table. Creating logical diagrams lets you view and work with a specific subset of the tables in a data source view instead of always viewing all the tables and their relationships in a single diagram.

Internet Sales Diagram

The Internet Sales diagram contains the tables that are related to the sale of Adventure Works products directly to customers through the Internet. The tables in the diagram are the four dimension tables and one fact table that you added to the Analysis Services Tutorial data source view in Lesson 1. These tables are as follows:

  • DimGeography
  • DimCustomer
  • DimTime
  • DimProduct
  • FactInternetSales

The following image shows the Internet Sales diagram.

Internet Sales diagram of data source view

Reseller Sales Diagram

The Reseller Sales diagram contains the tables that are related to the sale of Adventure Works products by resellers. This diagram contains the following seven dimension tables and one fact table from the AdventureWorksDW database:

  • DimReseller
  • DimPromotion
  • DimSalesTerritory
  • DimGeography
  • DimTime
  • DimProduct
  • DimEmployee
  • FactResellerSales

The following image shows the Reseller Sales diagram.

Reseller Sales diagram of data source view

Notice that the DimGeography, DimTime, and DimProduct tables are used in both the Internet Sales diagram and the Reseller Sales diagram. In SQL Server 2005, dimension tables can be linked to multiple fact tables.

Database and Cube Dimensions

The Analysis Services Tutorial project contains five new database dimensions, and the Analysis Services Tutorial cube contains these same five dimensions as cube dimensions. These dimensions have been defined to have user hierarchies and attributes that were modified by using named calculations, composition member keys, and display folders. The new dimensions are described in the following list.

  • Reseller Dimension
    The Reseller dimension is based on the Reseller table in the Adventure Works DW data source view.
  • Promotion Dimension
    The Promotion dimension is based on the Promotion table in the Adventure Works DW data source view.
  • Sales Territory Dimension
    The Sales Territory dimension is based on the SalesTerritory table in the Adventure Works DW data source view.
  • Employee Dimension
    The Employee dimension is based on the Employee table in the Adventure Works DW data source view.
  • Geography Dimension
    The Geography dimension is based on the Geography table in the Adventure Works DW data source view.

Analysis Services Cube

The Analysis Services Tutorial cube now contains two measure groups, the original measure group based on the InternetSales table and a second measure group based on the ResellerSales table in the Adventure Works DW data source view. The Analysis Services Tutorial cube is shown in the following image, with the Internet Sales measure group highlighted.

Adventure Works DW data source view

Next Task in Lesson

Defining Parent Attribute Properties in a Parent-Child Hierarchy

See Also

Tasks

Deploying an Analysis Services Project

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance