IBM Cognos, User Manual

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Each cube uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to retrieve the specified query
items and their relationships from the data sources in your model. When you
create or modify a cube, you can also apply security to it, to control your users'
access to information.
For example, if your data source contains information from different areas of a
business, you might decide to create different cubes for Human Resources and
Finance. You can define each cube to meet a set of broadly defined, but related,
OLAP reporting needs. Each report contains only the information from a single
cube, although you can support additional analysis by setting up drill through to
related reports. For more information, see the topic on drill-through access in the
Administration and Security Guide .
To create a cube, your model must have at least one dimension with at least one
level, and its
Measures list must show at least one measure.
Procedure
1. Click in the PowerCubes list to make it active and, from the Edit menu, click
Insert PowerCube .
2. In the PowerCube name box, type a name for the new PowerCube.
3. In the PowerCube file name box, click Browse to specify the location where
the PowerCube will be saved.
When you specify the cube name on the
Output tab, ensure the path is valid
and avoid using restricted characters, such as the exclamation mark (!), in the
file name.
By default, Cognos Transformer saves cubes in the My Documents/
Transformer/PowerCubes directory. You can set the default location to which
Cognos Transformer saves models by changing the
PowerCubes directory
setting on the Directories tab of the Preferences property sheet. On Windows
Vista, Cognos Transformer saves cubes in the Documents/Transformer/
PowerCubes directory.
We recommend that you specify cube names without spaces in the file name.
Although spaces are valid, file names without spaces are preferable for UNIX
or Linux environments.
4. To save a cube that is in use and therefore locked, select the Use temporary file
name if the original file is locked option and specify an alternative name for
the PowerCube file.
5.
On each of the other tabs in the Powercube property sheet, set the properties
you want to apply.
6. When you have finished defining your PowerCube, click OK .
7. To review your initial model design and confirm the results of your cube build,
open the cube in PowerPlay: select the cube and then click the
PowerPlay for
Windows button .
To open a cube in PowerPlay version 7.x, you must not have applied any
custom views to the cube.
If you receive an error message indicating that the setting for the PowerPlay
application is either not defined, or is not valid, click the
Browse
button to
locate the PowerPlay application. The PowerPlay application location is defined
on the
Directories tab of the Preferences property sheet.
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IBM Cognos Transformer Version 10.1.1: User Guide