Creating and Processing Cubes
BI DWD allows you to create cubes in SQL Server Analytical Services (SSAS) from any of the fact tables.
1 Some of your analytical modules come with cube metadata already created. To use these cubes, first create them in SSAS.
2 Make sure that the DataWarehouse connection in the DWD has the Cube Data Source section of its Properties tab filled out correctly:
• The Provider Type is set to SQLOLEDB.
• The Server and Database fields contain the name of the SQL Server instance and the name of the DWD SQL Server Database.
• The QAD_BI_Cube connection is set to the correct instance of SSAS.
3 Locate the cube in the Metadata Browser. Right-click on the cube and choose Properties.
4 Ensure the following:
• The Cube Database Connection is set to your QAD_BI_Cube connection object.
• The Data Source Connection is set to your DataWarehouse connection object.
5 Use the default Cube Database name or optionally create a different name for the SSAS database. Click OK to save.
6 Right-click on the cube and choose Create (Alter) Cube.
Note: For the older, non-OLAP cubes, the option is Create Cube. Verify that this completes successfully.
7 The final step is to process the cube, which populates the cube with data from the fact tables. For the analytical modules that come with cubes, there are standard jobs that process cubes; for instance, the job POSTPROCESS_<module>_CUBES.
Schedule this job to run at specific intervals, or add it to the end of the DAILY job chain to run it automatically after the daily jobs update the fact tables.
Note: The QAD Data Warehouse Designer User Guide contains additional information on creating and modifying OLAP cubes, including the following:
• A table that describes the types of modifications to an OLAP cube’s metadata that can be processed using the Create (Alter) Cube action in the Data Warehouse without changing SSAS first.
• Which modifications require the user to delete the SSAS cube database before re-creating the cube from the Data Warehouse.