Using a Modified Version of the Analysis Services Tutorial Project
The remaining 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 2012 data source view, additional dimensions have been added to the project, and these new dimensions have been added to the Analysis Services Tutorial cube. In addition, a second measure group has been added, which contains measures from a second fact table. This enhanced project will enable you to 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 download, extract, load and process the enhanced version of the Analysis Services Tutorial project. Use the instructions in this lesson to ensure you have performed all the steps.
Downloading and Extracting the Project File
Click here to go to the download page that provides the sample projects that go with this tutorial. The tutorial projects are included in the Analysis Services Tutorial SQL Server 2012 download.
Click Analysis Services Tutorial SQL Server 2012 to download the package that contains the projects for this tutorial.
By default, a .zip file is saved to the Downloads folder. You must move the .zip file to a location that has a shorter path (for example, create a C:\Tutorials folder to store the files). You can then extract the files contained in the .zip file. If you attempt to unzip the files from the Downloads folder, which has a longer path, you will only get Lesson 1.
Create a subfolder at or near the root drive, for example, C:\Tutorial.
Move the Analysis Services Tutorial SQL Server 2012.zip file to the subfolder.
Right-click the file and select Extract All.
Browse to the Lesson 4 Start folder to find the Analysis Services Tutorial.sln file.
Loading and Processing the Enhanced Project
In SQL Server Data Tools, on the File menu, click Close Solution to close files you won't be using.
On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Project/Solution.
Browse to the location where you extracted the tutorial project files.
Find the folder named Lesson 4 Start, and then double-click Analysis Services Tutorial.sln.
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 AdventureWorksDW2012 database.
Notice that with ten tables in the data source view, the <All Tables> diagram is becoming crowded. This 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 Adventure Works DW 2012 data source view in Lesson 1. These tables are as follows:
Geography
Customer
Date
Product
InternetSales
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 AdventureWorksDW2012 database:
Reseller
Promotion
SalesTerritory
Geography
Date
Product
Employee
ResellerSales
Notice that the DimGeography, DimDate, and DimProduct tables are used in both the Internet Sales diagram and the Reseller Sales diagram. 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 2012 data source view.
Promotion Dimension
The Promotion dimension is based on the Promotion table in the Adventure Works DW 2012 data source view.
Sales Territory Dimension
The Sales Territory dimension is based on the SalesTerritory table in the Adventure Works DW 2012 data source view.
Employee Dimension
The Employee dimension is based on the Employee table in the Adventure Works DW 2012 data source view.
Geography Dimension
The Geography dimension is based on the Geography table in the Adventure Works DW 2012 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 2012 data source view.
Next Task in Lesson
Defining Parent Attribute Properties in a Parent-Child Hierarchy