Hi All,

So far the MSAS application/cube I develope only the typical slice &
dice into multidimensional summarized data.
I read somewhere that another type of OLAP application is :
'Forecasting' & 'What-if Analysis'.

Could any body here pls give me some starting point :

1) How can I create 'Forecasting' & 'What-if Analysis' with MSAS2k ? is
there any articles/docs/tutorial/book somewhere ?

2) does that 'Forecasting' & 'What-if Analysis' application depend on
the client application ?
(currently I use Crystal Analysis 9/10, but I am considering Excel
Add-In)

Thank you very much for your help.

regards,
Krist

Krist,

If you want to do writeback you need a front-end application that can
do it!

Good to consider Excel add-ins as this is where most people will want
to writeback.

My favourite is still XLCubed, but there are others.

You then have choice which way to go.
You can have your forecasts alongside you actuals, i.e. in the same
cube.
It most cases though you will not want to forecast at the same level
of granuality.

Therefore, you will have a seperate forecast cube.
Create your dimension tables as usual & also create an empty fact
table.
When you build the cube you have to 'fool' AS into thinking that there
are facts in the fact table by changing fact table size in advanced
properties to '1'.

Then away you go.

Regards,

John Keeley

www.johnkeeley.com



xtanto (AT) hotmail (DOT) com (Krist) wrote in message news:<cb48a3b.0502240248.670ad800 (AT) posting (DOT) google.com>...

MSAS forecasting is VERY simplistic. If you're doing serious
forecasting, look for a more capable tool.

Seth

Krist wrote:

TM1 is better than AS for planning.
Of course, AS is better at handling large volumes of actuals.
You need a front-end that can bring the two olap databases together seamlessly.

Regards,

John Keeley

www.johnkeeley.com


Seth Grimes <grimes (AT) altaplana (DOT) com> wrote