Database Reference
In-Depth Information
down user queries, unless it is built improperly. An improperly constructed partition
can absolutely destroy performance; knowledge and experience are always helpful as
you work with this tool. Do not be afraid to think out of the box with designs. There
are enough tools within Essbase to construct very elegant solutions without jamming
square pegs in round holes.
5.6.2 Typed Measures: Text and Date Measures
The introduction of typed measures in version 11.1.1.1 of Essbase was met with a great
deal of excitement amongst cube developers. Although this functionality is available
to both ASo and BSo cubes, it is included in this chapter section because I think it
is one the great things you can do with an ASo cube. An effort will be made to make
distinction where appropriate of features that are only ASo or BSo capable. The term
Ty p e d M e a s u r e s
actually refers to a collection of new functionality, which is sometimes
confusing in the literature as only parts of this collection are presented. There are three
distinct features within typed measures:
1. Cell contents of numeric type measures can be associated with format strings
(this one is often left out when typed measures are discussed).
2. text measures can be created (also called text metrics in various places).
3. Date measures can be created (also referred to as Date metrics).
This section will walk through examples of how to use each of these typed measures
with the cubes discussed earlier in this chapter.
In the past, Attribute Dimensions would have been used to accomplish what seems
like the same thing. So, why not just use Attribute Dimensions? The biggest reason is
because an attribute dimension cannot deliver a cell value that is textual or is a date.
It can only deliver a number and associate it with an outline member. It is somewhat of an
understatement to say how cool it is to run a report and have dates appear in the retrieval
cells. maybe fantastic is a more accurate term. For years, cubes have been manipulated
to death to do human resources (hr) analytics. The need to store the hire date, the
termination date, the anniversary date, etc., was just downright painful to manipulate
and force a cube to do. If the dates needed to be smart and do math (length of employ-
ment as of today, for instance), it went from painful to excruciating. It could be done, but
it was not easy. In the end, it was often decided that perhaps that hr cube ought to just
be a relational database and use some sort of SQL (structured query language) front-end
to deliver the reporting and analytics. typed measures changes all of that.
to use any of the three features available in typed measures, the first step is to activate
the outline to enable typed measures. In EAS, open the outline in outline Editor. on the
Properties tab, change the typed measures Enabled to true (it is false by default). once this
is done, the three different features available with typed measures can be used. remember
that once the outline has this feature enabled, it cannot be set back to false (turned off).
The drop down that was used to set the value to true will no longer be available.
The first feature allows the developer to present strings of information (based on the
numeric values) instead of numeric values, to the report consumer. These have to be
created using an mdxFormat statement. For example, create a member called “Sales
range.” If using a BSo cube, make the member dynamic and input the simple formula:
"Sales";
