Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 15-24.
Aggregates with a calculated member
Both the derived and calculated members have their places, and both are useful tools when used under
the right circumstances. In general, you can use derived members to store the aggregate values within SSAS and
speed up the report generation, or you can use calculated members to decrease the amount of time it takes to
process aggregates to the hard drive. And, always make your final decision about which to use depending on
which one gives you the correct answer.
■
Just like in a math problem that uses both addition and multiplication, if the order of operations is
not specified correctly, the answer will be incorrect. in Chapter
11
,
Exercise 11-3, we created both a derived
measure and a calculated measure and then verified that only one was correct. You may be asking, “How will i
know which one to use?” while you can take the time to examine each calculated member and manually crunch
the numbers to determine which would be appropriate, the one to use is the one that, when executed, actually
works. if they both give the same answer, choose derived for report performance and calculated for processing
performance.
Tip
exerCise 15-2. Creating a Cube-based report
in this exercise, you create your own report by connecting the ssAs cube and building a report that looks
like the one shown in figure
15-25
.
1. with Excel open to the workbook you created in Exercise 15-1, navigate to sheet2 by
clicking the tab at the bottom of the screen.
2. go to the Data tab of the Ribbon, as shown in figure
15-19
, and create a new data
source for ssAs.
3. when the Connect to Database server dialog window appears, specify your ssAs
server's name (figure
15-20
). Then click next to continue.
