Perspectives in SSAS

Friends,

Perspectives are the best way to reduce the complexity of the cube. The main advantage of perspectives is that it wont need any storage in Analysis Server beyond their definition. The following objects can be Hidden or Displayed using a perspective.

1. Attributes
2. Dimensions
3. Measures
4. Measure Groups
5. Hierarchies
6. Actions
7. KPIs
8. Calculated Measures

Perspectives are similar to Views in Relational database in that they narrow down the objects that can be seen from a single cube. Lets assume we have a table with 100 columns and using View you can show only limited number of columns that are required and in the same way using perspectives we can HIDE or SHOW the objects of SSAS Cube. For example, the Adventure Works cube in the Adventure Works DW sample Analysis Services database contains eleven measure groups and twenty-one different cube dimensions, representing sales, sales forecasting, and financial data. A client application can directly reference the complete cube, but this viewpoint may be overwhelming to a user trying to extract basic sales forecasting information. Instead, the same user can use the Sales Targets perspective to limit the view of the Adventure Works cube to only those objects relevant to sales forecasting. Lets see the steps to be followed to create a perspective.

1. Select the Perspectives tab in cube by double clicking cube first and  then clicking Perspective tab next.
2. Click on New Perspective button which is rounded in the below given image.
3. In the first row of the Perspective Name column, select the default perspective name and enter a new name for the perspective. Please provide valid name which reflects the purpose of the perspective.
4. In the Perspective Name column of the new perspective, deselect Measure Groups and Dimensions for the perspective as desired. By default, all measure groups and dimensions are selected.
5. Process and Deploy the perspective.

To view the Perspective created go to Browser tab and select the Perspective as  shown in below image.

To delete the perspective please follow the steps give below.

1. Go to Perspectives tab.
2. Select the perspective name which you wish to delete.
3. On the toolbar of the Perspectives tab, click the Delete Perspective icon to delete the perspective, or right-click in the Perspective Name column and select Delete Perspective.
4. Deploy and Process the cube.

PFB the screenshot of the same.

That’s it and hope this was helpful to you guys !

Regards,

Roopesh Babu V