Book Image

Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Cube Development

Book Image

Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Cube Development

Overview of this book

Analysis Services have been the number one OLAP engine for years. With the increased focus on business intelligence solutions, there is a shortage of professionals in this area. Start your journey into becoming a BI developer using the popular tools included in every SQL Server installation. Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Cube Development teaches you through clear step-by-step exercises to create business intelligence solutions using Analysis Services. The knowledge gained through these practical examples can immediately be applied to your real-world problems. Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Cube Development begins with an introduction to business intelligence and Analysis Services, the world's most-used cube engine. Guiding you through easy-to-understand examples to become a cube developer. Learn how to create a cube including all the advanced features such as KPIs, calculated measures, and time intelligence. Security and performance tuning will also be explored. You will learn how to perform and automate core tasks like deployment and processing. The main focus is on multidimensional cubes, but the creation of in-memory models will also be covered. You will learn everything you need to get started with cube development using SQL Server 2012.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Cube Development
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

KPIs


You can also specify KPI calculations in tabular models. To create a KPI, perform the follow steps:

  1. Click on the FactInternetSales tab.

  2. Click on any of the empty cells in the Measure Grid.

  3. Type the following formula to create a measure that will contain the KPI target:

    SalesAmountKPITarget:=[Previous Year SalesAmount] * 1.4
  4. Click on the Sum of SalesAmount measure.

  5. Then click on the Create KPI button.

  6. Specify that SalesAmountKPITarget is the target for the KPI:

  7. Click on OK to create the new KPI.

Something that may not be obvious when first creating KPIs is that you can specify how the thresholds should behave. By default, it shows green on the highest and red on the lowest; however, you can click on the bands below Target to change if you, for example, would like to create a KPI that shows green when it is closer to the target.

After creating the KPI, you have to test your newly created KPI. You have a feature in SQL Server Data Tools that allows you to directly connect to the temporary model...