Optimizing Dimension and Cube Processing - SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 Cube Development - page 164

Processing op-
tion Description Used for

This option
loads only
newly added
records to the
dimension
from the most
recent time it
was fully pro-
cessed.

This option is the less intrusive of the two incre-
mental processing options for dimensions.
Since it does not account for updated or deleted
records, ProcessAdd does not invalidate exist-
ing partition indexes or aggregations.

ProcessAdd

ProcessAdd is also used for incremental pro-
cessing with out-of-line bindings, discussed
later in this chapter.

ProcessUpdate This option in-
crementally
refreshes the
dimension ac-
counting for all
data changes:
inserts, up-
dates, and de-
letes.

This option drops existing partition indexes and
aggregations that are invalidated due to dimen-
sion data changes. SSAS 2012 has an intelli-
gent engine, capable of keeping the indexes
and aggregations that are still valid, instead of
wiping out all existing structures. However,
ProcessUpdate still has to check every parti-
tion referenced by the updated dimension to de-
termine which of these indexes need to be
dropped. You must use the ProcessIndexes
partition processing option (after running Pro-
cessUpdate on dimensions) to re-create miss-
ing indexes and aggregations.

ProcessDefault This option
brings a di-
mension from
its current
state to a fully-

This option is viable if your dataset is small, and
finer control over dimension processing isn't a
concern.