What are the pros and cons of building a cube in AS?

Thanks,

Pro's:

* you can avoid report explosion by putting x dimensions and x measures into
a cube - then you can slice and dice as desired
* aggregations are found faster - some are stored when processing - and it's
faster to find the others if you have the right "olap environment" (so you
can process a cube during night so it's ready for x users - instead of
getting it for every user every time they desire to)
* it's another way of looking at data when you create hierachies - you can
centralize a certain drill-down on the server-side - that way you get focus
on the aggregated numbers and go to the detail numbers only when desired -
"region a isn't running well...." ..."let me see what departments in region
a that causes this..."
* front-end for every flavour (and size of wallet..)
* you can use ms tools for transporting data automatically
* actions allows you to get interaction between other applications /
internet with contents in the cube
* drill-through allows you to go from aggregated data to get detail records
* you can create one "view" of the company's managing area's - instead of
letting each user himself try to create the "truth" the way he feels
like...that can happen with other tools such as excel...you need to put more
effort in arcitechture but it will be more robust when getting new data

Con's

* you need to choose a front-end - this can also be a benefit - that you
have several to to choose from - but it can also drain resources because its
hard to get the whole picture
* archichture a bit more demanding - and there are some pitfalls
* prefers hierachical dimension - not flat dimensions with lots of members
* you need to figure out where to put logic - sometimes you can use mdx /
calculated members in a cube - but they are calculated every time the user
queries
* not that many know mdx yet ... but I'm guessing more and more will....you
don't need mdx that much if you're using a front-end - at some situations
however you need to use it in the cube

.....and perhaps more on both sides....

In fact you can't live without it....I know I can't - I'm a consultant..

But you have reporting services from MS as another tool alongside Analysis
Services...

The proc's and con's above of course depends on what I'm comparing it to
.....

"usha" <usha_anumolu (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote