Model design

The model design tab shows a summary of the steps needed to build models. The steps to build a model are as shown:

Design dimensions

To make the data available for input and analysis, you must first create dimensions. Some examples of dimensions are Chart of Accounts, Products, Time, and Versions.

For more information, see Creating and formatting dimensions.

Build cubes

Use the dimensions that you have defined to build cubes. A cube is a store of data within a model. It is multidimensional and contains rows, columns, and any number of pages. You use one or more cubes to create an application. Some examples of cubes are: Sales Planning or Expense Analysis.

For more information, see Creating cubes.

Link cubes

Links establish a relationship that moves data from one cube to another. You can create links, for example, to reference assumption data in a planning cube.

Links can be implemented either as rules or processes. When a link is implemented as a rule, data is stored solely in the source cube, but is used and displayed in the target cube as required. When a link is implemented as a process, data from the source cube is copied to the target cube.

For more information, see Creating links.

Create cube calculations

Cube calculations simplify the creation of rules to complete common modeling operations, such as managing and maintaining the model. You can add a calculation to make your model meaningful by deriving more information from the data source.

For more information, see Cube calculations.

Create rules and processes

Dimension calculations, cube calculations and links generate rules automatically and will generate feeders if this property has not been disabled for the server (by default it is on). Links can also generate processes. Optionally, you can create rules for advanced calculations, and processes for managing and maintaining the model. Processes can then be grouped into chores for ongoing maintenance.

For more information, see Managing rules and feeders.