Book Image

Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services

Book Image

Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services

Overview of this book

Microsoft's SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 is an OLAP server that allows users to analyze business data quickly and easily. However, designing cubes in Analysis Services can be a complex task: it's all too easy to make mistakes early on in development that lead to serious problems when the cube is in production. Learning the best practices for cube design before you start your project will help you avoid these problems and ensure that your project is a success. This book offers practical advice on how to go about designing and building fast, scalable, and maintainable cubes that will meet your users' requirements and help make your Business Intelligence project a success. This book gives readers insight into the best practices for designing and building Microsoft Analysis Services 2008 cubes. It also provides details about server architecture, performance tuning, security, and administration of an Analysis Services solution. In this book, you will learn how to design and implement Analysis Services cubes. Starting from designing a data mart for Analysis Services, through the creation of dimensions and measure groups, to putting the cube into production, we'll explore the whole of the development lifecycle. This book is an invaluable guide for anyone who is planning to use Microsoft Analysis Services 2008 in a Business Intelligence project.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Introduction to currency conversion


The need for currency conversion occurs when measure values have to be reported in a currency that is different from the one used to collect the data originally. It might seem as though this can be solved using a simple calculation; however, your assumptions might be wrong. Consider the following approach to currency conversion:

  • Collect currency exchange rates on a daily basis

  • Use daily exchange rates to convert each transaction into the desired currency

Why could this pattern be wrong? It might be correct in some cases, but it might be wrong for a variety of reasons. For example, the date used to link the exchange rate value to a transaction might be not the right one, because the date of payment is not recorded in the transaction itself. In another example, if the payment has been made to a foreign currency bank account, the conversion to a different currency should be made using a fixed exchange rate instead of a daily changing exchange rate.

Therefore...