DATABASE

SQL Server 2005 : Advanced OLAP - Key Performance Indicators (part 1) - A Concrete KPI, Testing KPIs in Browser View

10/25/2012 1:14:42 AM
Measures and dimensions define what a cube can show you, giving you insight into, for example, your business’s performance, your site’s Web traffic, or your clinical experiment’s findings. You can run an MDX query and look at a measure’s value over some slice of your cube, and because you’re familiar with its measures and dimensions, you can decide if the values meet, exceed, or fall short of your goals or your expectations. With the help of key performance indicators (KPIs) in Analysis Services 2005, you can now embed that goal criteria in the cube rather than evaluate it in your head or in your application.

KPIs simply consist of a set of MDX-based conditional expressions, stored on the server, that return numeric values indicating the performance of a measure, a calculated measure, or a calculated expression over a slice of the cube and/or the relative performance of that value over a period of time. KPIs are associated with certain predefined icon sets, providing a visualization tool (even if a crude one) over your measures and an easy way for your users to get up to speed quickly on what the measures data are telling you.

Pay attention here because this is the stuff that’s currently hot in the market: KPIs enable what are known in the BI and business performance management (BPM) worlds as scorecards, and they lend themselves extremely well to dashboard-type user interfaces.

More Info

Microsoft’s Business Scorecard Manager product, which works in tandem with Analysis Services, provides a Microsoft SharePoint–based platform for delivering scorecards and KPI data to end users.


Let’s set up a KPI and then look at it in the special KPI browser view. Unfortunately, the cube’s Browser tab will not display or allow querying of KPIs, but after building and browsing our KPI we’ll address this shortcoming. We’ll do so by making a short detour over to SQL Server Management Studio, where we will query our KPI values using that application’s MDX Query window.

Click on the KPIs tab of the cube designer, and then click the New KPI toolbar button (fourth from the left) or choose the Cube/New KPI main menu option. You should see a new KPI open in form view, which is quite similar to the Calculations tab’s form view. The main, right-hand area of the tab contains a field-oriented form for defining your KPI. A Calculation Tools pane, identical to that of the Calculations tab, appears at the lower left, and a KPI Organizer pane, similar to the Calculations tab’s Script Organizer pane, appears at the upper left.

The form fields for a KPI include its name, the measure group it is associated with, and MDX expressions for the value to be tracked and a “goal” value for it. The KPI value and goal value are purely numeric indicators that alone offer little extra value over measures and calculated members.

KPI Visualization: Status and Trend

Extra value is provided, however, by MDX expressions for the KPI’s status and its trend. The status expression returns a value, typically between –1 and +1, indicating the relative health of the KPI value; the trend expression returns a value, usually in the same range, indicating the increase or decrease in status value relative to a prior period of time. Along with the expressions themselves, you can also select associated indicator graphics (icon sets).

A status or trend value of +1 conveys a “good” state of affairs for whatever the KPI is meant to monitor. A value of –1 is a “bad” value, and a value of 0 is “neutral.” The icon sets selected for your status and trend expressions contain several icons, each corresponding to a different discrete value returned by the expression.

At a minimum, these icons support the values of –1, 0, and 1. For example, a Traffic Light graphic displays a red, yellow, or green light, respectively. Others, such as a Gauge graphic, accommodate intermediate values, typically +.5 and –.5, which we might associate with “fair” and “substandard,” respectively. These intermediate values (and the icons to which they correspond) are relevant only for status; trend, by definition (by the Analysis Services 2005 definition, anyway), is always positive, negative, or neutral.

A Concrete KPI

This is all rather abstract, but it will become clear once we’ve a built a KPI and put it to use. Our KPI will be based on our Avg Total Sales measure. Configure the KPI you added earlier as follows:

1.
Set the Name to Average Total Sales KPI (no square brackets necessary).

2.
Select Main for Associated Measure Group.

3.
Set the Value Expression to [Measures].[Avg Total Sales]. (You might want to drag and drop the Measures\Main\Non-Sum\Avg Total Sales node from the Metadata tab of the Calculation Tools pane onto the Value Expression area rather than typing this manually.)

4.
Set the Goal Expression to 1500.

5.
Set the Status Indicator graphic to Gauge, if it has not been done already.

6.
Enter the MDX code in Listing 1 into the Status Expression area. (You might want to drag and drop items from the KPI folder of the Functions tab in the Calculation Tools pane to complete this step more easily.)

7.
Set the Trend Indicator to Standard Arrow, if it has not been done already.

8.
Set the Trend Expression to the contents of Listing 18-2 (using drag and drop from the Calculation Tools pane as appropriate).

Listing 1. Status expression MDX code for Average Total Sales KPI
CASE
    WHEN KPIVALUE("Average Total Sales KPI") /
 KPIGOAL("Average Total Sales KPI") >= .95 THEN
        1
    WHEN KPIVALUE("Average Total Sales KPI") / KPIGOAL("Average Total Sales KPI") <  .95
    AND
    KPIVALUE("Average Total Sales KPI") / KPIGOAL("Average Total Sales KPI") >= .85 THEN
        0
    ELSE
        -1
END

					  

The MDX expression in Listing 1 determines actual average sales as a percentage of the Goal ($1500) and maps as positive (+1) values that are 95 percent and up. Average Sales greater or equal to 85 percent and less than 95 percent of goal are neutral (0), and those below 85 percent are negative (–1).

Listing 2. Trend MDX expression code for Average Total Sales KPI
CASE
    WHEN ISEMPTY(( [Measures].[Avg Total Sales],
    [Order Date].[Year -  Quarter -  Month -  Date].PREVMEMBER)) THEN
        NULL
    WHEN [Measures].[Avg Total Sales] < ([Measures].[Avg Total Sales],
    [Order Date].[Year -  Quarter -  Month -  Date].PREVMEMBER) THEN
        -1
    WHEN [Measures].[Avg Total Sales] = ([Measures].[Avg Total Sales],
    [Order Date].[Year -  Quarter -  Month -  Date].PREVMEMBER) THEN
        0
    ELSE
        1
END

The MDX expression in Listing 2 uses the PREVMEMBER property of our Order Date dimension’s hierarchy to compare Adjusted Sales Growth for the period and level for which the KPI is being evaluated and compares it to the previous period’s value. If the previous period’s value is lower, growth is positive and the trend expression returns a value of +1; if the value is higher, growth is negative and a value of –1 is returned. If the two values are equal, growth is flat and a value of 0 is returned.

Note

In reality, comparing the difference between the two periods’ values and returning 0 for a range of values from slightly below 0 to slightly above 0 might be a better determinant of flat growth, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’ll stick with a difference of 0.


Click the down arrow icon next to the Additional Properties header to expand that section of the form. We won’t enter values for all the fields here, but it’s important to know the available options. Display folders for KPIs work similarly to the way they do for measures, calculations, and hierarchies, allowing you to group KPIs by category. You can enter multiple folder names, thus allowing your KPIs to appear under more than one folder, if you separate them with a semicolon.

A parent KPI allows you to organize your KPIs hierarchically and establishes a calculation relationship whereby the parent KPI’s value is determined by that of its children. The relative contribution of each child KPI’s value to that of its parent is determined by the value entered in the Weight field. In the Current Time Member field, you can specify an exclusive time period within which the KPI is valid. You must specify a member of a time dimension defined for the measure group with which the KPI is associated.

Note

When you enter values for a KPI’s fields, remember that the Value Expression, Goal Expression, Status Expression, Trend Expression, Weight, and Current Time Member field values are full-fledged MDX expressions, supporting all MDX language constructs, word completion, member listing, “squiggle” syntax error prompting, and entry of comments.


Finally, the Description field allows you to document your KPI by storing a descriptive string of text about it in the cube itself. This text is retrievable by client applications, which, again, makes it easier for users to browse your cube. Go ahead and type Monitors health of average total sales in the Description field for our KPI and leave the other fields in the Additional Properties section blank.

Now that we have completed the definition of our KPI, it’s time to test it, but our testing method will be different than for other elements in our cube. We’ll cover those differences in a minute, but first save and deploy your changes and make sure you do so while the KPI’s tab is visible. After the deployment, notice that the KPI tab has switched from form view to browser view.

Testing KPIs in Browser View

The Browser View toolbar button is now selected, and form fields have disappeared, giving way to a new window. In the upper pane of this window you can specify a slice of your cube for which to view the KPI data; the lower pane displays your KPI data. This data includes the value for the current slice, the goal value, graphical depictions of the status and trend values, and the weight value. An information icon also appears; you can hover your mouse pointer over it to display the KPI’s description in a ToolTip.

The KPI browser view provides an easy way for you to view KPI values for specific dimensional subsections (slices) of your cube. However, by default, the browser displays aggregated KPI data for the entire cube, which is almost meaningless. Narrowing down that scope requires making specific selections in the filter pane. For example, we can look at the KPI data for Brazil in the fourth quarter of 1996 by making the following selections in the filter pane. (You might need to first reconnect in order to be allowed to make these selections.)

DimensionHierarchyOperatorFilter Expression
Order DateYear - Quarter - Month - DateEqual{Quarter 4, 1996}
GeographyCountryEqual{Brazil}

For Filter Expression, you must click the drop-down arrow at the right edge of the column. Then, in the dimension browser popup window, drill down to the member you’re interested in, click its check box, and then click OK. The necessary selection state for the {Quarter 4, 1996} member of the Order Date dimension is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The KPI browser with the Filter Expression member selection popup window displayed

After you specify your cube slice, click off the selected cell in the filter expression table (for example, click anywhere in the lower pane) to force the new KPI data to load and display.

Interpreting Results and Modifying the Slicer

When you’ve completed the previous steps, the KPI browser view should appear as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The KPI browser showing KPI data for a cube slice defined as Quarter 4, 1996, in Brazil

Notice that the Value column displays $3583.60, which is well above goal. Accordingly, the Status column’s graphic displays a full green (indicating a status value of +1). The Trend column displays no graphic at all. This results from a value of NULL being returned by the trend formula because of an anomaly in the way the KPI browser filters its data. Shortly, we will bring back KPI data through an MDX query to obtain the correct value for the trend.

Now try changing the country to UK. (Remember to uncheck Brazil before clicking OK.) You should see the KPI value decrease to $1082.23 and the Status column graphic indicate red, which is correct given that this value is less than 85 percent of goal ($1500). Next, change the Order Date filter expression to {Calendar 1997} and the Geography filter expression to {Brazil, Canada}. (Again, remember to uncheck the old filter member—UK—before clicking OK.) You should see the KPI value increase to $1420.01 and the Status column graphic indicate yellow, which is correct given that this value is about 94.7 percent of goal and our range for yellow (status formula value of 0) is between greater than or equal to 85 percent and less than 95 percent.

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