Analysis Services end-user frontend

Hi,

I've developped a simple testing SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services solution.

I tried with Excel 2003 and pivot tables for accessing the cubes, because end users are very used to that enviroment.

The problem is that selection of dimensions and measures is dificult because there are too many, and not arranged into folders. All attributes of all the dimensions and all the measures are displayed in a -plain- format (as far as I know). That's very frustrating, because is difficult for the user to select the correct dimensions, attributes, and measures.

I tried with XLAddinSetup.msi, but I didn't like it, because I think that isn't so powerful and easy to use than pivot tables.

What can I do?

Do you recommend to use another frontend, not Excel?

Many thanks.

This is a very difficult time to recommend a front-end to Analysis Services given Microsoft's recent acquisition of Proclarity:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/apr06/04-03ProClarityPR.mspx

There are a lot of good tools on the market, but no-one knows how many will be around this time next year! Obviously Proclarity will be in some shape or form, though it might make sense to wait and see what Microsoft's plans are for it. It's probably a good idea to contact your local Proclarity office and ask them what is going to happen in the short-term; if there's someone from Proclarity reading this, perhaps they can make a public statement here?

Chris

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Chris Webb wrote:

This is a very difficult time to recommend a front-end to Analysis Services given Microsoft's recent acquisition of Proclarity:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/apr06/04-03ProClarityPR.mspx

There are a lot of good tools on the market, but no-one knows how many will be around this time next year! Obviously Proclarity will be in some shape or form, though it might make sense to wait and see what Microsoft's plans are for it. It's probably a good idea to contact your local Proclarity office and ask them what is going to happen in the short-term; if there's someone from Proclarity reading this, perhaps they can make a public statement here?

Chris

Ok, I think I can wait.

On the other hand, I still think that Excel is enough for the moment, but my problem is, as I said before, that accessing to dimensions and measures of OLAP cubes is messy, because the list isn't hierarchy organized in folders.

Does anybody know how to do that?

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I don't think you will be able to do this with any current version of Excel, although Excel 2007 will be able to do it.

Chris

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As Chris mentions ProClarity might be a good bet for you. However, I can also recommend the Danish front-end TARGIT, which has some very compelling and user-friendly features. You can download a 30-day demo version from http://www.targit.com/Products/Demo_and_Videos/Download_30_days_trial_demo.aspx

TARGIT is able to handle the meta data from AS 2005 and present this in a nice manner.

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I also recommend that you look into the upcoming Office 2007 release. Excel has many enhancements specifically targetted at AS 2005.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/oct05/10-23BiLaunchPR.mspx

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If you can't wait for Excel 2007 there are some 3rd party add-ins for Excel currently available:
XLCubed
BIXL
O2OLAP

If you want to move away from Excel and don't like ProClarity look at ExecutiveViewer from www.temtec.com. Have you tried Reporting Services with SSAS? Microsoft is pushing this very hard (but it is more a developer tool than an end-user solution).

Dr Cube