Creating Schemas/Cubes
The icCube server is basically a container of OLAP cubes (or simply cubes for short). A cube consists of numeric facts, called measures, which are categorized by dimensions. Within the server, cubes are organized into schemas that are basically a collection of cubes, possibly sharing one or more dimensions. Note that an icCube schema is the equivalent of an XMLA catalog.
Data Sources
icCube provides several ways to create a schema/cube. Whatever the approach, creating a cube always consists of selecting one or more data-source(s) (e.g. file, Excel sheets, database) containing both the data defining the dimensions and the facts. When the available selection of data source types is insufficient, the plugin framework allows you to define data sources that better fit your needs.
Incremental (aka. Real-Time) Data Sources
Incremental data sources extends regular data sources to support incremental updates of the cubes. More details are available here.
Meta-Data
Later on we'll see, in detail, how to setup the dimensions meta-information (i.e. the meta-data describing how to build the dimension structure from the actual data). But for now, let's just say that there are three different ways to do so. The first and easiest method is to use our Web-based UI called 'icCube builder' (a.k.a. designer). The second and most difficult method is to manually edit a schema/cube definition (i.e. XML file). The third possibility, which falls in between the other two in difficulty, is to manually edit what we call factory files (i.e. simpler XML files).
Walkthrough
This section describes an end-to-end example for creating cubes, dimensions, and measures for an imaginary telecommunications company. By then, you'll be able to modify existing schemas and cubes and/or create new OLAP cubes.
Walkthrough (Incremental Load)
Similar to the previous walkthrough this section demonstrates how to add real-time (aka. incremental load) support to the cube definition.
Next chapter: Cube Builder UI describes how to create a cube using our visual cube builder.