Creating Analysis Services Cubes - SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 Cube Development - page 67

Defining measure groups and

measures

The first cube recipe will create a simplistic cube based on the FactResellerSales
fact table and will include only two dimensions: promotion and date.

To create a cube and its related entities, you must first define the data sources from
where we'll import data and Data Source Views ( DSVs ), which define necessary re-
lationships between dimension and fact tables, as well as dimensions you intend to
include in your cube. Please refer to Chapter 2 , Defining Analysis Services Dimen-
sions , for recipes on defining data sources, DSVs, and creating dimensions

Getting ready

Create a new SSDT project called SSAS_Cookbook_Chapter3 and save it to any
location of your choice. Create a data source view with all the tables via the Adven-
tureWorksDW2012 database. Add the promotion dimension as discussed in Chapter
2 , Defining Analysis Services Dimensions . Also add the date dimension based on the
DimDate table and include the year, month, and date attributes. The date attribute
should be based on the DateKey column, and use FullDateAlternateKey as
the name column. The date attribute should also be the key attribute of the dimen-
sion. The month attribute must use the MonthNumberOfYear and CalendarYear
columns as keys and the EnglishMonthName as the name column. Be sure to cre-
ate attribute relationships between the month and year attributes.

How to do it...

Let's build your first cube by performing the following steps:

1. Right-click on the Cubes folder in the Solution Explorer window and choose
New Cube . This activates the cube wizard.
2. Much like the dimension wizard, the cube wizard also allows you to build a
cube-based on existing tables.
3. Other alternatives include creating an empty cube or generating tables in the
relational data source. Creating an empty cube will allow you to add necessary
measure groups and dimensions manually. You will be able to add/remove di-