Chapter 5: Adding Measures and Calculations with MDX
Now that we have the cube built, the time has come to enhance it with MDX. MDX, or multidimensional expressions, is the language used to query a multidimensional model and build calculations in the cube. In this chapter, we will introduce the core concepts of MDX for building measures, calculations, and queries. While MDX has some similar syntax and structure to SQL, the implementation and results are not similar. We will use MDX to expand the functionality in the cube with measures, calculations, and KPIs. Measures and calculations can be used to standardize business metrics for all users. KPIs, or key performance indicators, are used to visualize performance and trending against specified goals.
In this chapter, we're going to cover the following main topics:
- Introducing MDX basics – SELECT, FROM, WHERE
- Adding calculations and measures to your cube
- Adding KPIs to your cube
- Exploring more MDX expressions...
