Cube Design - Professional SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 with MDX - page 244

Figure 6-19
The reference relationship between a dimension and a measure group is in-
dicated by an arrow pointing to the intermediate dimension as shown in Fig-
ure 6-19 . This graphical view of the reference relationship helps you identify
the type of relationship between a dimension and measure group when you
are looking at the Dimension Usage tab of the cube editor. Similar graphical
representations are available for fact, many-to-many, and Data Mining dimen-
sions, and you learn about these relationships in later Chapters 9 and 14 .
Browsing Reference Dimensions
Having added the [Dim Geography] dimension as the reference dimension to
the cube, assume you want to analyze the Reseller Sales based on different
business types in various countries. To do so you need to go to the Cube
Browser and drag and drop the English Country Region Name hierarchy from
the [Dim Geography] dimension to the rows, the Business Type hierarchy of
Dim Reseller dimension to the columns, and the measure Sales Amount of
the Fact Reseller Sales measure group to the details area. You can now ana-
lyze the Sales data based on the business type in each country, as shown in
Figure 6-20 . Based on this sales knowledge, the costs associated with the
products, and your business goals, you can strategically promote the busi-
ness type yielding the maximum profit for your company. Reference dimen-