Exploring the Analysis Services database
Earlier, we discussed connecting to the Analysis Services database via SQL Server Management Studio. As we saw then, connecting to the SSAS database via SQL Server Management Studio is useful in some situations, such as when we need to add or remove users to security roles or when we need to process the entire database at once. By and large, however, most of our access to the Analysis Services database will occur through Business Intelligence Development Studio, or BIDS, for short. This product is installed as a component of the SQL Server installation, and is found under the same Program Files folder as SQL Server. Those of us who are familiar with Visual Studio will have no problem using BIDS, as it's nothing more than a spinoff of Visual Studio dedicated to designing and maintaining Business Intelligence projects and environments. This fits right in with our Analysis Cubes product!
When working with Analysis Services databases in BIDS, we must remember...