Sorry, I don't think I explained myself properly.
I WANT to have a step #3 like below. The original system (the one I did not build) skipped step #3. Basically, it has: a) a staging db to dump EDI, spreadsheet, and text files from external system, b) another staging db that imports all the tables from a) plus some data from our Dynamics AX system of record, c) SSAS database, d) cube built from the SSAS database. Currently, the data isn't in a measure/dimension format until step c).
I want a data mart step in a SQL Server relational database that takes data from staging and from AX and puts them into a star schema. Then the SSAS database can pull from that relational data mart. Does that make more sense?
richykong (8/22/2012)
PaulB-TheOneAndOnly (8/22/2012)
1- The OLTP source system(s) <= The systems that support the operation of the business.
2- The Staging area <= Where you put whatever you Extract from OLTP and eventually Transform it.
3- The Datamart <= A dimensional (star-schema) structure where you Load the data sourced from OLTP
4- The Delivery layer <= Structure from where you deliver data to the business.
I think what you're trying to do is skip the 3rd layer mentioned by PaulB. The default SSAS Cubes that come with Dyanmics AX uses complex queries against the OLTP system and I assume you are simply trying to side load some extra data through some staging tables.
My personal experience with building cubes against Dynamics AX was to build a custom star schema data mart and building the SSAS solution on top of that. Directly pointing a cube at a non star/snowflake schema structure means you are using some complex queries to build out your Fact and Dimensions. Short term, it's quick and easy. Long term, you'll have problems with performance during processing. Besides performance, the OLTP tables are not built to support change tracking so if your dimensions need to be SCD type 2, you'll need to build a complex support system just to handle change tracking.