Creating named calculations and queries

Named calculations allow extending an existing object to include data structures necessary for defining a dimension. The most common example is of combining the first and last name columns into a single column named as full_name. Similarly, we could concatenate the quarter and year columns to define a full description for each calendar quarter, as in Quarter 2, 2013. If you have sufficient access to the relational database, you have an option of creating any views you need for building dimensions; this approach is favored by many data warehouse and cube developers. However, it is also plausible that you won't have permission to create or alter relational objects. There is no need to worry though; named calculations are here to help. For example, suppose you have the Employee dimension based on the DimEmployee table, which includes the FirstName and LastName columns. This could be great for relational design, but you'll need to define a named calculation...