Browsing SSAS (2005) Dimensions from Excel

Hi all,

I am having difficulty understanding why my dimension names aren't showing up in a pivot table field list when I browse SSAS 2005 cubes from Excel 2003 (using the 90 PTS OLAP DLL).

Has anybody else experienced this problem where the dimension names aren't being made visible? Unfortunately all I see are my attribute names and these, by themselves, are extremely ambiguous.

Just wondering if there are any quick and easy fixes or work-arounds that anybody could recommend.

Thanks in advance,
DB
Since the hierarchies within dimensions (including the visible default attribute hierarchies) are probably what you're seeing in Excel, one work-around would be to create user-defined hierarchies with more meaningful names within the dimensions, even if they merely mimic an attribute hierarchy with an ambiguous name. The corresponding attribute hierarchies could then be hidden, to avoid confusion.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175631(en-US,SQL.90).aspx
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Configuring Multilevel Hierarchies

The Cube Wizard and the Dimension Wizard in Business Intelligence Development Studio in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) create multilevel hierarchies that are based on natural (one-to-many) relationships between columns in tables of a database. You can also create and edit hierarchies by using the Dimension Structure tab of Dimension Designer.

The Hierarchies and Levels pane of the Dimension Structure tab shows the hierarchies in the dimension. The title bar for a hierarchy shows the name of the hierarchy, which you can change by setting the Name property of the hierarchy. The levels of a hierarchy are marked by dots—the root level is marked by a single dot, and each level below the root is marked with an additional dot.

Click a hierarchy to display its properties in the Properties window. Click a level in the hierarchy to display its properties.

Creating Multilevel Hierarchies

Create multilevel hierarchies by dragging attributes from the Attributes pane of the Dimension Structure tab to a blank area on the Hierarchies and Levels pane. You can also drag columns from the Data Source View pane to the Hierarchies and Levels pane. Dragging a column creates the corresponding attribute, if the attribute does not already exist. To add an attribute or a column as a level in an existing hierarchy, drag the attribute or column to the existing hierarchy. As you drag an attribute or a column over a hierarchy, a bar indicates where the new level will be created when you drop the attribute or the column on the hierarchy.
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http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174939(en-US,SQL.90).aspx
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Showing or Hiding an Attribute Hierarchy

If you want to add an attribute as a level to multilevel hierarchies, but you do not want users to see the attribute hierarchy in client applications, set AttributeHierarchyEnabled to True and set AttributeHierarchyVisible to False. These settings prevent users from browsing an attribute hierarchy without disabling it. The AttributeHierarchyVisible setting is ignored if AttributeHierarchyEnabled is set to False.
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|||Your work-around makes sense. But it is a great deal of effort to do this for all of our dimension attributes in all of our dimensions.

I am still somewhat amazed that Excel 2003 isn't automatically displaying dimension names. Call me crazy but it seems to me that the name of the dimension is significant enough to display in some fashion.

Thanks,
db

Browsing cubes through interfaces other than the BI Studio?

I've built a cube, deployed it and processed it. I can use the brower in the BI Studio to see the data subsets and can manipulate it. How do I get this cube to the user without having to install BI Studios on their computer?

Basically how do I get the cube into IIS so the user can just open a web browser and go to it? Similar to how cognos does it with their cubes. Or is this not possible?

I see no way to view the cube unless you are using the BI Studio to open it. Am I missing something?

You are indee missing quite a lot.

There are many different ways to browse a cube using different applications. Just to name a few: Excel, Office Web Components ( you see it embedded in BI Dev studio), ProClarity, and many others.

After building a cube you should decide on the way you going to let your users to browse a cube data. Take a look at client application and evaluate which one works for you the best and then deploy it on client machines.

Try out a new PivotTables in Beta of Office2007.

Edward.
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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Could you point me to some documentation on or the correct direction to being able to view the cubes through a web interface? I'd like to be able to use strictly Server 2003 and SQL 2005 and be able to deploy these cubes to IIS for viewing without the use of a third system or special installations on PCs.

So with that in mind I'd like to be able to view these cubes from any computer that has an Internet explorer window.

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For instance take a look at this one http://www.proclarity.com/products/proclarity_for_sharepoint.asp

And this one http://www.panorama.com/products/nova_view_dashboards/index.html

Edward.
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

|||If your cube is relatively simple and your reporting requirements are elementary, Report Builder is also a good (and free!) option.|||Try to use RadarCube ASP.NET for MS AS.|||

Take a look at this one:
http://www.beyond2020.com/products/vista_overview.php

For a demo:
http://www.beyond2020.com/products/demo.php

browsin from excel

i can connect olap cubes from excel on any client with blank username and password, although i defined roles and users, a user who skips username and password fields can see all cubes wity any browsing tool ( Proclarity, excel etc )

thx in advance

The username and password field in Excel is only used if you have setup HTTP authentication. Otherwise windows integrated security is used. This means that you must have these users or a group that they are members of in a server or database role that has permission to browse the cubes.