(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)
By the end of this article you will be able to use Model Design Accelerator to design a new Framework model.
To introduce Model Design Accelerator, we will use a fairly simple schema based on a rental star schema, derived from the MySQL Sakila sample database.This database can be downloaded from http://dev.mysql.com/doc/sakila/en/. It is just one example of a number of possible dimensional models based on this sample database.
The user interface of Model Design Accelerator is very simple, consisting of only two panels:
By clicking on the labels (Explorer Tree and Model Accelerator) at the top of the window, it is possible to hide either of these panels, but having both these panels always visible is beneficial.
Model Design Accelerator is started from the Framework Manager initial screen:
This will start the new project creation wizard, which is exactly the same as if you were starting any new project.
The first step in creating your model with Model Design Accelerator is to add the dimension and fact tables to your model:
If not all query columns are required, it is also possible to expand the dimension tables and drag-and-drop individual columns to the query boxes.
After we have added our database table columns to the workspace, we now need to add the relationship joins between the dimension and fact tables. To do this:
The final model will look like the following screenshot:
Once we have completed our model in Model Design Accelerator, we need to create a Framework Manager model:
When you generate your model, all of the Model Advisor tests are automatically applied to the resulting model. You should review any issues that have been identified in the Verify Results tab, and decide whether you need to fix them.
When you generate the model only those query items required will be used to create the Framework Manager model. The Physical View tab will contain only those tables required by your star schema model. The Business View tab will contain model query subjects containing only the columns used in your star schema model. The Presentation View tab will only contain shortcuts to the query subjects that exist in the Business View tab.
After generating your model, you can use Framework Manager to improve the model by adding calculations, filters, dimensions, measures, and so on.
Each time you generate a Framework Manager model from your Model Design Accelerator model, a new namespace is created in the current Framework Manager model and any improvements you want to use will also need to be applied to these new namespaces.
From Framework Manager you can return to Model Design Accelerator at any time to continue making changes to your star schema.
To return to the Model Design Accelerator from within Framework Manager:
To make your star schema model available to the report authors, you must first create a package and then publish the package to your Cognos Reporting Server.
In this article, we have looked at Model Design Accelerator. This is a tool that allows a novice modeler, or even an experienced modeler, to create a new Framework Manger model quickly and easily.
Further resources on this subject:
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