SQL Server 2008: The New Dimension Wizard for Analysis Services-SSAS

SSAS 2008

SQL Server 2008: The New Dimension Wizard for Analysis Services

Written by Stacia Misner

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 15:00

While there are several new features slated for Analysis Services that haven't been released in a CTP yet, the July CTP does include a new dimension wizard. This wizard is intended to simplify your work by streamlining the steps involved to set up a new dimension. Today, as I walk you through the new wizard in SQL Server 2008 (which I'll henceforth call Katmai throughout this article), I'll explain how it's lived up to the promise of an improved design experience and remind you how it's different from the dimension wizard in SQL Server 2005 (which I'll refer to as Yukon).

Of course, before you can add a dimension, you need to add a data source and data source view (DSV). Nothing has changed here. If an attribute doesn't exist in the format you want in the physical data source, you will still need to add a named calculation (or a derived column in a named query) in the DSV before you add the attribute to the dimension. For example, if you have FirstName and LastName columns in a customer dimension table, but want to display "LastName, FirstName", you'll need to concatenate the columns in the DSV.