I am new to OLAP and wondering how is the best way to take a standard OLTP
database and get it ready for importing into a OLAP database ie do the dim
first then the fact table, or try to combine the row of data so every thing
is in one row and create the fact and dims at the same time ? any good
reading about this on the web, cheers

you are right: dimenions first, fact table after.

to help you generate the DW model required for your needs,
use AS2005, create your cubes & dimensions based on the needs (an empty
model not based on any existing data source), then click generate the
database.
AS2005 will create all the tables in an SQL Server database optimized to
your needs, your final work is to load these tables.

"John230873" <John230873 (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

I have played with AS2005 and that bit is cool more concern on how to
populate the relational database for the loading of the cube.

Cheers for the responce

"Jéjé" wrote:

how to?
simply start by loading the dimensions, then the fact tables.
what do you want to learn exactly?

"John230873" <John230873 (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Hmm, more our do I make sure tha tall my dims are there from my fact table
and is SSIS the right application to do this with. I dump and reload my
relational database each time I want to add new information, just small staff
like this.


"Jéjé" wrote:

Hey i dont think its relation databases... Its confusing, i think you are
dropping and recreating the OLAP tables(Fact & Dimension)... Its a good
approach if your requirement is not to generate reports frequently... Our
current design is the same, we can save time and script to identify updated
records in this case...

While doing that,

Drop the indexes on the fact table.
Insert the new records into the fact table.
Truncate the transaction log when you're finished populating the fact table.
Rebuild indexes on the fact table.


--
Thanks,
Sree
[Please specify the version of Sql Server as we can save one thread and time
asking back if its 2000 or 2005]



"John230873" wrote: