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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / Using SSAS(SQL Server ...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

Using SSAS(SQL Server Analysis services) for Building Cubes using Microsoft Dynamics ERP

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Posted on by SamSSAS 125

Hi All,

Is it possible to build SSAS cubes using data from Microsoft Dynamics ERP system. I want to know what are the factors and

complexity involved while defining the source connections in SSAS.

Thanks in Advance,

Regards,

Sam

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I have the same question (0)
  • NR-11010513-0 Profile Picture
    NR-11010513-0 2 on at

    Sure, as well as the standard out of the box cubes, you can use the framework within AX to design cubes using objects in the AOT. Plenty of information available in MSDN, technet and many other blogs, etc...

    Obviously nothing stopping you from extracting to an external database and building the SSAS cubes from a dedicated warehouse - some might even consider this approach best practice!

  • SamSSAS Profile Picture
    SamSSAS 125 on at

    Thank you very much for the reply Nick.

    Here is what I want to do.

    I want to create data source connections in SSAS(Sql server Analysis services) for the tables available in Microsoft Dynamics ERP database and start building a cube in SSAS. I am not pretty sure if I can achieve this in SSAS. Can you let me know if there is a way to do this. I am new to Dynamics ERP.

    Thanks in Advance.

    Sam.

  • NR-11010513-0 Profile Picture
    NR-11010513-0 2 on at

    AX provides an framework which allows you to define measures and dimensions within it's own object model. This is provides a layer of abstraction over SSAS cubes - so effectively creating cubes in the background. I don't see a technical reason why this can't be achieved by defining your own cubes directly in SSAS, although this may not be the recommended approach. Again, if you are a 'pure' BI guy then you may want to consider extracting data from AX and placing in a dedicated warehouse.

  • dolee Profile Picture
    dolee 11,279 on at

    Hi Sam,

    You can open the default SSAS project in Visual studio. There you can see the "Dynamics Database" data source. Recreate it in a new project should do the trick.

    Or, you can delete everything except the data source and start from there. If you want to keep a copy in AX, change the project name and import it back to the AOT.

  • Suggested answer
    Kumar Gaurav @ MS Profile Picture
    Kumar Gaurav @ MS on at

    Yes it is possible, in most likely hood it's already existing (check existing cubes). It's not complex but takes some times to understand the working and troubleshooting.

    Below link can be a good starting point,

    technet.microsoft.com/.../gg731771.aspx

  • Dynamic Sax Profile Picture
    Dynamic Sax 20 on at

    If you're already familiar with SSAS, I'd suggest you just build your cube completely outside AX.  Just point straight at its database with a sql user set up for readonly access.  

    AX's internal tools don't provide you with anything all that useful, they don't work if any little thing is weird or complex, and your finished cubes are no different than if you'd built them yourself.  

    In reporting scenarios the advice is to stay within AX even though AXSRS is a beast, but that's because you get access to the security model, labels, display methods, and even the full business stack if you need.  You pretty much get none of that with AX cubes anyway, so do yourself a favor and just start with SSAS from the outset.  

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