Microsoft® SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Generating a Relational Database

The examples you have worked with up to this point have been from a dimensional database that uses a star or snowflake schema (the CompSales2012 database). Very often, however, you create cubes based on requirements only and do not have an existing data source (or sources) to draw on at design time. After you complete your cube design, you can choose to generate a relational schema that can be used to retain (that is, stage) the cube’s source data or that can be a data warehouse/data mart unto itself. Figure 53.55 shows the start of the Schema Generation Wizard for building a data warehouse/staging database from the top down.

FIGURE 53.55 Generating a relational schema from the cube and dimension definitions. ...