Building Cube - Part 1 [PowerOLAP OLAP Exchange #3]

You will first define an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection between PowerOLAP and the relational database whose data you want to convert to a multidimensional Cube(s). You can use one of several relational databases in an actual production environment (see Section on Administrator Topics, Databases Supported for Use with PowerOLAP). In the demonstrations in this manual, we will use Microsoft SQL Server as the underlying relational database, and in fact use the Microsoft Northwind demonstration database, which is included with SQL Server, as the basis of our example. The following pages will show how to create an Order Information cube from information in Northwind tables. Even if you are not working through this example, you will learn the steps to create a Cube by following the text.

Any Cube-building process involves selecting tables to use as the basis of Dimensions; selecting fields whose entries will be Members of those Dimensions; and proceeding to the actual Cube creation. In these pages we will also demonstrate the "drill-through" feature, which allows you to see the relational transactions that make up a multidimensional point in PowerOLAP.

Note that in the course of creating a Cube you may have the option to enable the "Incremental Updating" feature, so that new data can be recorded in the underlying relational database—provided that the database supports triggers. However, in this section you will not activate this option—Incremental Updating will be discussed on Building & Updating Cubes that Support Incremental Updating section. (The setup processes are the same, except for the option selection in the Create Cube from Relational Source dialog box, which you will see.)

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