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Importing a Physical Schema from Multidimensional Data Sources

This topic is part of Process of Creating the Physical Layer from Multidimensional Data Sources.

CAUTION:  Manually creating a physical schema from a multidimensional data source is labor-intensive and error prone. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you import it.

The Oracle BI Server uses XMLA standards to import data from a multidimensional data source into the Oracle BI repository. During the import process, each cube in a multidimensional data source is created as a single physical cube table. The Oracle BI Server imports the cube, including its metrics, dimensions and hierarchies. After importing the cubes, you need to make sure that the physical cube columns have the correct aggregation rule and that the default member type ALL is correctly imported for a hierarchy. For more information, refer to Adding a Hierarchy to a Physical Cube Table.

The following list includes information that you should consider before importing data:

• Microsoft Analysis Services and SAP/BW are the only supported XMLA-compliant data sources currently available.
• The Oracle BI Server only imports the dimensions and hierarchies that are supported by Oracle BI. Therefore, if a cube has a ragged hierarchy or a parent-child hierarchy, it will not be imported. Additionally, measure hierarchies are not imported or supported.
• It is recommended that you remove hierarchies and columns from the physical layer if they will not be used in the business model. This eliminates maintaining unnecessary objects in the Administration Tool and might result in better performance.

To import a physical schema from multidimensional data sources

1. From your data source administrator, obtain the URL connection string and user name and password for the data source.
2. In the Administration Tool, select File > Import from XMLA.
3. In the Import From XMLA dialog box, complete the following fields:
   1. In the URL field, type the URL for the Web service that acts as the XMLA provider.

      Use the URL connection string obtained from your data source administrator.

   2. In the username and password fields, type a valid username and password for the data source.

      Use the user name and password that you obtained from your data source administrator.

4. Click OK.

   The Administration Tool connects to the destination source to obtain a list of the available data catalogs (databases).

5. In the Browse dialog box, expand the data source and catalog (database), if necessary, and select the catalogs (databases) or cubes to import.

   The Import button is unavailable until you select an object that can be downloaded.

6. After you select all the objects you want to import, click Import.

   If some objects could not be imported, a list of warning messages appears in the Oracle BI Administration Tool dialog box. For example:

   Hierarchy "[Measures]" from data source "SDCHS40I023", catalog "XMLA_council_interop", cube "BeverageSales" is of measure type and not imported.

7. In the Oracle BI Administration Tool dialog box, you can perform the following actions:
   • To search for specific terms, click Find and then Find Again.
   • To copy the contents of the window so that you can paste the messages in another file, click Copy.
8. When finished importing, in each dialog box, click OK and then Close.