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  I have often had to report the “days since last event”.  I’m going to do it here using a variety of query languages and compare them.   Consider the following TSQL query on AdventureWorksDW - and the output below.   SELECT d.FullDateAlternateKey, COUNT(dt.OrderDateKey) AS OrderCount FROM dbo.DimDate d LEFT ...

I have been keeping a close eye on machinations in the SQL Server Data Services (SSDS) arena and whilst the product hasn't reached the masses yet (I'm still waiting for my beta invite - hint hint) there is a still a lot of activity going on. There is a very active blog called The Long Term Storecast ...

If you are making changes to a linked object measure group after you have created the initial link, such as adding a new measure, you can come across the following error when you next deploy the solution. "Errors in the OLAP storage engine: The metadata for the statically linked measure group, with the name of XXX, cannot be verified against ...

On the off chance you haven't come across this one before: If you get the following error 'No mapping between account names and security IDs was done' when trying to deploy a cube project then check the membership of all the roles on your cube. Chances are one of the users listed has actually been removed from the Domain. Simply ...

I suspect that many of you have already come across this in your day to day MDX'ing but just in case: The standard YTD function only works with the Year level of Time hierarchies when the Attribute Type is set in the Basic Properties section to type Years. If you have a Fiscal Hierarchy in your Time dimension and have the Type set to ...

I’ve just gone through an informal and limited evaluation process for a charting tool for a BI dashboard.  It included some of the RS extension products, ProClarity and ChartFX.  Of course I would have been keen to use ProClarity, but in this case the cost was a little high and, to be honest, it would have been a sledgehammer to ...

This article was originally written for Analysis Services 2005, but everything still applies today even for Analysis Services 2012 in Multidimensional mode.First thing to do: figure out what type of currency conversion you need.  There are 3 types. MANY-TO-MANY.  This is where the facts are stored in multiple currencies – i.e. ...

Jon Axon, Chris Webb, Mosha Pasumansky, Greg Galloway, Darren Gosbell  (and I although not as much as these guys!) have released some very interesting and useful MDX sprocs.  Check out http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=ASStoredProcedures Enjoy!  

 Oh, and before the anoraks out there mail me saying “did you know that ‘performant’ is not recognized as an adjective by the major dictionaries?”, yes I do know – but I like the word, so I’m using it! We are modeling the business of the Multi-Dimensional Parcel Service (MDPS). They ship parcels ...

It is generally considered data warehousing best practice to split your facts into different tables if the granularity/dimensionality is different.  This is a very common question in data warehouse design.  Consider the following data model.   The company traditionally sells its products through sales people visiting customer ...