Virtual Cube Possible?

[Firecat1970]

Hi buddy,

I am new to Cognos and am wondering if this is feasible in the latest version of Powerplay.

Is it possible for me to build 1 cube per month (identical structure) Can I then view all these monthly cubes at the same time through Powerplay, so it works like 1 single big cube? I tried CubeGroup and I can only access them 1 by 1.

This way, I only need to re-build the latest 2 months as old data are not really changing.

Best Regards,
Firecal

 

[Pommie]

This exact scenario is covered in the latest edition of Supportlink using the new Time-Segmented option in Cognos Series 7 Version 2. I'm sure it's also covered in the Transformer Help as well. This ability also allows for the tracking of data in slowly changing dimensions if the old cubes aren't rebuilt which is something I've been asked about by users previously.

Can't wait to upgrade (boy does that sound sick).

Regards

John

 

[Firecat1970]

Thank you Pommie. I don't have a chance to play with Version 2. I attended the Cognos Powerplay Transformer training last week and I guess it was an earlier version (I saw cer2, not cer3).

So besides the time-segmented option, can I build my own segmentation based on one of my dimension? e.g. I have 20 customers, and I would rather build cubes per customers. And if I want, I can view 1 big virtual cubes of these 20 smaller cubes.

Many Thanks,
Firecat

 

[flex13]

IF this is the type of structure that you are after, how about creating a cube group based on your customer level?

ScCott

 

[Pommie]

I agree with Scott on this one. I think the reasoning behind the Time Segments is that the historical ones don't change whereas cubes based on customers will. This new option will require some thought if dimensions change and this needs to be propogated across history as this will mean re-processing old cubes to re-align. This sounds a lot like the scenario with the current method of incremental cubes where a regular refresh is suggested. Thoughts anyone?

John

 

[Firecat1970]

Thanks John and Scott,

I am basically okay to do total-refresh from time to time, it is simply necessary. But when I build a cube group based on customer_no dimension for instance, there is no easy way in Powerplay for users to see all customers data as 1 single cube, unless I deliberately build such all customer cube physically, is my understanding right?

I had evaluated Diver before, and the virtual cube feature of it impressed me a lot. I can gradually build cube customer by customer, and I can define a virtual cube to hold all customer cubes.

Thanks! Firecat.

 

[Draoued]

You could from the same cube model.
Create a complete cube , with all the categories.
and create smaller cubes ( cube group) based on the Customer number.

And then enabled the Drill-through from Cube to cubes , so if user start from the "master" cube , they will also be able to slice and dice smaller cubes.

Nothing new from the other post, just a small adding.