LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 1

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1 Learning about MDX Pako Chan, CPA, CA, CITP Manager, Business Solutions Group Introduction Pako Chan Manager, Business Solutions Group CPA-CA, CITP Auditor Deloitte 5 years Architect Prophix 6 years Agenda What is MDX? Why you should learn about MDX When should you use MDX? Troubleshooting MDX Where can you find more resources? Q&A LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 1

2 What is MDX? Multi-Dimensional expressions Retrieve data from a cube MDX Why learn MDX? Complex Easy! Common & Transferrable When to use MDX? Getting specific values Rolling 12 months Same month of last year Top 10 customers Filter customer based on a member property LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 2

3 Getting specific values Business scenario: Replicate price for each product across customers Data is stored in a generic customer called Generic Getting specific values Without using MDX: Run an infoflex process to copy the price at Generic customer to all other customers Creates additional records in the database Will have to run a process each time any price is updated Key Concepts Member vs. Tuple Member a specific item in a dimension Tuple an intersection of different dimensions Sales Commission Expenses LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 3

4 Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) Member Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) Dimension Member Name Key Hierarchy Name Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) Member Member LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 4

5 Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) Dimension Member Hierarchy Name Key Name Hierarchy Dimension Member Name Name Key Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) Member Member Tuple Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 5

6 Getting specific values The following MDX will refer to the price stored in customer Generic: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) To calculate revenue, you will need to use the following formula: ([Account].[Default].&[Price], [Customer].[Default].&[GEN]) * ([Account].[Default].&[Quantity]) Rolling 12 months Business scenario: You want the system to calculate the total of the last 12-month for each account For example, total revenue for the last 12 months Rolling 12 months Without MDX: Create a version called Rolling 12 Month Actual Use an Infoflex process to aggregate the last 12 months data from Actual to a single month in this new version Repeat this process for each month and for each version LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 6

7 Key Concepts Sets and Functions Set a collection of members / tuples Sales Commission Expenses Function to perform actions SUM() FILTER() AVG() Rolling 12 months The following custom Time Perspective MDX will sum up the last 12 months of data: SUM( LastPeriods(12, [Time].[Default].CurrentMember), [Time Perspective].[Default].&[Base]) Function Rolling 12 months The following custom Time Perspective MDX will sum up the last 12 months of data: SUM( LastPeriods(12, [Time].[Default].CurrentMember), [Time Perspective].[Default].&[Base]) Function LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 7

8 Rolling 12 months The following custom Time Perspective MDX will sum up the last 12 months of data: SUM( LastPeriods(12, [Time].[Default].CurrentMember), [Time Perspective].[Default].&[Base]) Function Summary of Functions CurrentMember returns the current member for a specified dimension LastPeriods - returns a set of members up to and including a specified member Sum aggregate values over a set Same month of last year Business scenario: For a more accurate comparison, you want to see how your company performs this month over last year same month (for actual data) Month over Month Revenue 0 Jan Feb Mar LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 8

9 Same month of last year Without MDX: Manually select each month in a data view, or; Use two data views in a template: one for the current year and one for the prior year This will create two drop downs for time, which will allow the user to pick which months they want to look at Same month of last year The following custom Version MDX will return the value from one year ago: (ParallelPeriod( [Time].Default.[Year], 1, [Time].Default.CurrentMember), [Version].Default.&[ACT]) Same month of last year The following custom Version MDX will return the value from one year ago: (ParallelPeriod( [Time].Default.[Year], 1, [Time].Default.CurrentMember), [Version].Default.&[ACT]) Function LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 9

10 Same month of last year The following custom Version MDX will return the value from one year ago: (ParallelPeriod( [Time].Default.[Year], 1, [Time].Default.CurrentMember), [Version].Default.&[ACT]) Summary of Functions CurrentMember LastPeriods Sum ParallelPeriod Returns a member from a prior period based on a specified member Top 10 customers Business scenario: You want to obtain a list of top 10 customers based on sales amount LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 10

11 Top 10 customers Without MDX: No functionality to sort or filter in Prophix Will need to export out to Excel and apply sorting Top 10 customers The following custom Named Set MDX (for Customer dimension) will return a list of top 10 customers: TopCount( Descendants([Customer].Default.[All],,Leaves), 10, ([Account].Default.&[4000])) Function Top 10 customers The following custom Named Set MDX (for Customer dimension) will return a list of top 10 customers: TopCount( Descendants([Customer].Default.[All],,Leaves), 10, ([Account].Default.&[4000])) Function LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 11

12 Key Concepts Dynamic vs Static Named Set Dynamic evaluated every time a query is run Static evaluated when the cube is updated Summary of Functions CurrentMember LastPeriods Sum ParallelPeriod Descendants returns the set of descendants of a specified members at a specified distance TopCount sort a set in descending order and returns the specified number of members with the highest values Filter customers based on a property Business scenario: You want to get a list of customers in the US Each customer has a member property called Country LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 12

13 Filter customers based on a property Without MDX: Set up in the main hierarchy Create unnecessary roll up M ay pollute the structure Set up an alternate hierarchy based on the Country member property Use the alternate hierarchy to return a list of US customers Users won t be able to do data entry under alternate hierarchy Filter customers based on a property The following custom Named Set MDX (for Customer dimension) will return a list of US customers: Filter customers based on a property Filter( Descendants([Customer].Default.[All],,Leaves), ) LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 13

14 Filter customers based on a property Filter customers based on a property Filter( Descendants([Customer].Default.[All],,Leaves), [Customer].Default.CurrentMember.PROPERTIES("Country") ="US") Summary of Functions CurrentMember LastPeriods Sum ParallelPeriod Descendants TopCount Filter filters a specified set based on a condition LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 14

15 Considerations for using MDX Is it able to accomplish your goal? Meets Requirements Is your template / process performing fast? Performance Ease of use Is it easier to set up? Is it easy to maintain? Troubleshooting MDX Use the Check formula syntax button Missing brackets Parser: The end of the input was reached Missing & for member reference Troubleshooting MDX If you see #Err or #Infinity, check Cell Properties for more information LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 15

16 MDX resources MSDN Library ( Google MDX + what you need Sometime you may need to add -acura to remove any result for the car Acura MDX! Ask your Prophix consultants! Review Member > Tuple > Set Review of functions CurrentMember LastPeriods Sum ParallelPeriod Descendants TopCount Filter Where to put MDX Account Time Perspective Version Named Set Dynamic Static Summary MDX can make your life a lot easier Power is at your finger tips Use with caution need to balance between requirements, ease of use, and performance LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 16

17 Thank You! Exercises 1. How would you refer to the Sales department (member key is 1000) in the Department dimension? a) [Department].[Default].[Sales] b) [Department].[Default].&[Sales] c) [Department].[Default].[1000] d) [Department].[Default].&[1000] Exercises 2. The function ParallelPeriod will return a: a) Member b) Tuple c) Set d) Value LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 17

18 Exercises 3. To create a MDX that sums up all leaf accounts that start with 400 (the account string has 5 digits), which of the following function will you not need? a) Sum b) Filter c) Descendants d) CurrentMember e) All of the above functions are needed Answers 1. D 2. A 3. E Try creating the actual MDX in your model! LEARNING ABOUT MDX HANDOUT 18