What's New

What's New in the SAS 9.2 OLAP Server

The SAS OLAP Server contains various new functions, tools, and features for SAS 9.2.

OLAP cube building features
OLAP cube maintenance features
cube aggregation tuning features
incremental cube update features
security for cubes
SAS tree view features
OLAP procedure options

These functions are accessed from SAS OLAP Cube Studio. In addition, some of these functions have equivalent OLAP procedure statements or options.

OLAP Cube Building Features

The data table selection process in the Cube Designer wizard has been simplified and reorganized into an easier and more intuitive order. Tables are now grouped based on the libraries that the tables are registered to. The table selection pages also contain functions that enable you to access the properties for a table and view the data for a table.
You can now create multiple hierarchies for a dimension with the Define a Hierarchy dialog box in the Dimension Designer. You can also designate one of the hierarchies as a default hierarchy.
You can now build a time dimension with user-supplied time hierarchies that auto-populate the levels and formats for the Time dimension. The Add-Supplied dialog box enables you to select from suggested time hierarchies that are based on a single date-formatted column.

The COLUMN= option is used on the LEVEL statement when the Add-Supplied function is used.
If the metadata server connection is lost during a SAS OLAP Cube Studio session, a new metadata server connection is automatically attempted during the same SAS OLAP Cube Studio session. This enables you to continue your work in that same session without losing any data changes you are making.

OLAP Cube Maintenance Features

The Calculated Members Wizard is now fully integrated into SAS OLAP Cube Studio. The addition of the advanced expression builder enables you to specify user-defined formats, set the solve order, and build a custom MDX formula for a calculated member.
The View Cube function enables you to verify the cube build process and visualize the data structure of a cube.
SAS OLAP cube metadata can now be exported and imported as part of a SAS package or in batch mode. Cubes built with SAS OLAP Cube Studio 4.2 can be copied or moved between SAS 9.2 systems with the Export SAS Package and Import SAS Package functions that are part of SAS OLAP Cube Studio 4.2. Cubes that were built with a version of SAS that is earlier than 9.2 can also be moved to the SAS 9.2 environment by using the ExportCubes and ImportCubes batch tools.

Note: The ExportCubes batch tool is supported in a hot fix that is applied to SAS 9.1.3 SP4. Cube metadata that is exported with the ExportCubes tool can then be imported in the second maintenance release after SAS 9.2 with the ImportCubes batch tool.
The Synchronize Column Changes function enables you to synchronize a cube when the input table for an existing cube has encountered a column name change. This function finds the name differences between the cube and its input table. It then changes the internal cube files to match the input table column names.
The Refresh Cube function enables the SAS OLAP Server to access calculated members that were created or updated since the cube was last accessed by the SAS OLAP Server. This notifies running OLAP Server instances to capture calculated member changes made to the cube since it was last loaded by those instances.
You can now quickly change the OLAP schema for a cube from within SAS OLAP Cube Studio.
Cubes can now be disabled to make necessary changes and updates and then enabled again. Disabling a cube makes it transparent to the users connected to any active OLAP Server instances. A cube is disabled in order make edits to the cube or to perform administrative tasks on the cube. Enabling a cube brings it back into production.
You can now choose to export the code generated by PROC OLAP in either a long form or short form. The Export Code function enables you to store in a text file the PROC OLAP code that is used to edit or build the cube. The long form contains all PROC code that is used to create a cube. The short form text file contains only the PROC OLAP statement, the cube name, and the METASVR statement and obtains the remainder of the cube structure from an existing registration on the metadata server.
You can now perform impact analysis for a cube. This function enables you to view the relationship of a cube to the objects that it is associated with. Impact analysis shows the potential impact of changes that you might make to a cube.
A cube or cube-related object can now have documents and notes attached to provide additional information about the cube or object.
Cube jobs are now automatically generated when a cube is built. A cube job is a collection of SAS tasks that create output. When you deploy a cube job, the code needed to create the cube is generated.
You can now change the name of a cube or other object (such as a job, document, or note) by selecting that object in the tree view and then selecting the Rename function.

Cube Aggregation Tuning Features

The newly designed Aggregation Tuning wizard enables you to build, edit, and customize aggregations for a cube. You can generate new aggregations for a cube based on the ARM log or cardinality, or you can use the manual aggregation builder.

Incremental Cube Update Features

You can now add data and members to a cube without having to rebuild the cube. To support this feature, new PROC OLAP statements and options have been added. Within SAS OLAP Cube Studio, the Incremental Update wizard has been added.
The Coalesce Aggregations function is part of the Incremental Update function. It enables you to combine all of the individual rack tables that result from incremental updates into a single aggregation table. The COALESCE_AGGREGATIONS option has been added to support this function. In SAS OLAP Cube Studio, the Coalesce Aggregations wizard has been added.

Security For Cubes

You can now define member-level security in SAS OLAP Cube Studio. The Add Authorization dialog box enables you to add MDX expressions that limit access to a cube dimension. This ensures that only designated portions of the data are visible to a user or group of users.

Starting in the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, you can use the Add Authorization dialog box to grant or deny Read permissions for a member only or for a member and its descendents.

The SECURITY_SUBSET= option is now available in the OLAP procedure. The option determines whether security totals will be used. The subset that is defined is then applied when calculating the cell values.
Identity-driven security enables you to substitute identity values in a permission condition. It enables you to insert a placeholder into the permission condition that, at query time, gets resolved to a string that represents the user identity.
Starting in the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, you can specify batch security in SAS OLAP Cube Studio with the Manage Permission Tables function. The Manage Permission Tables function enables you to create a special SAS data set known as a permission table that contains cube access controls for submitting in bulk. A permission table is a table of access control information that can later be applied to a cube with batch SAS code. The Manage Permission Tables dialog box enables you to create and modify permission tables as well as import access controls (permissions) from a cube or an OLAP schema. You can also execute the code interactively or export the code to a file for use in a stored process or deployed job flow.

SAS Tree View Features

The tree view is now divided into two tabs, the Folders tab and Inventory tab. The Inventory tab lists the cubes and their components, such as schemas, tables, and libraries. The Folders tab displays a folder view of the components of the cube. This view shows which folders a cube, source tables, and libraries are located in.
You can now access functions that are specific to an object in the tree view. The functions that are listed in the context menu are specific to that object and the current status of that object. You can access the context menu by right-clicking an object.
In SAS OLAP Cube Studio, you can now copy or move objects between folders. You can also find the folder location of an object in the Inventory tab with the Find In Folders function.

New OLAP Procedure Options

The following OLAP procedure options are new for SAS OLAP 9.2:

PROC OLAP Statement Options

ADD_DATA
ASYNCINDEXLIMIT=
COALESCE_AGGREGATIONS
ESRI_MAP_SERVER=
ESRI_REPLACE
MAX_RETRIES=
MAX_RETRY_WAIT=
MIN_RETRY_WAIT=
NONUPDATEABLE
OUTCUBE=
OUTSCHEMA=
RENAME
SECURITY_SUBSET= YES|NO
SYNCHRONIZE_COLUMNS (replacing SYNCHRONIZE_LEVELS)
UPDATE_DISPLAY_NAMES
UPDATE_IN_PLACE

Dimension Statement Options

MAP_SERVICE=
UPDATE_DIMENSION=

LEVEL Statement Options

COLUMN=
ESRI_MAP_LAYER=
FORMAT=

MEASURE Statement Options

INCLUDE_CALCULATED_MEMBERS
NOINCLUDE_CALCULATED_MEMBERS

PROPERTY Statement Options

ESRI_MAP_FIELD=