Lesson 2: Defining and Deploying a Cube

After you define a data source view in your Microsoft Analysis Services project, you are ready to define an initial Analysis Services cube.

You can define a cube and its dimensions in a single pass using the Cube Wizard. Alternatively, you can define one or more dimensions and then use the Cube Wizard to define a cube that uses those dimensions. If you are designing a complex solution, you generally start by defining the dimensions. For more information, see Dimensions in Multidimensional Models or Cubes in Multidimensional Models.

Note
Completed projects for all of the lessons in this tutorial are available online. You can jump ahead to any lesson by using the completed project from the previous lesson as a starting point. Click here to download the sample projects that go with this tutorial.

This lesson contains the following tasks:

Defining a Dimension

In this task, you use the Dimension Wizard to define a dimension.

Defining a Cube

In this task, you use the Cube Wizard to define an initial Analysis Services cube.

Adding Attributes to Dimensions

In this task, you add attributes to the dimensions that you created.

Reviewing Cube and Dimension Properties

In this task, you review the structure of the cube that you defined by using the Cube Wizard.

Deploying an Analysis Services Project

In this task, you deploy the Analysis Services project to your local instance of Analysis Services, and learn about certain deployment properties.

Browsing the Cube

In this task, you browse the cube and dimension data by using Excel or the MDX query designer.