Introspection is a method of inspecting a physical data source for metadata elements. When you perform introspection, structural information in the data source is inspected to detect fact tables, dimension tables, hierarchies, aliases, and attributes. The metadata elements derived from introspection are then used to create cube schemas and, optionally, Essbase models.
Introspection can be performed during the data source connection creation process. Introspection can also be performed on an existing data source connection.
For instructions on performing introspection, see Introspection.