Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer
Note: This feature integrates the code from the Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer project into BIDS. Special thanks go to Jon Burchel for permission to use that code.The Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer aids in converting parent-child dimensions into natural hierarchies. Natural hierarchies perform better primarily because aggregations can be built up a natural hierarchy, while aggregations can only be built at the leaf level of a parent-child hierarchy.
If you already have a parent-child dimension built, then launch this feature from the right-click menu of that dimension in Solution Explorer:
You are then prompted with the following screen which lets you choose exactly how the naturalized dimension is built:
Upon clicking OK, and depending on the action level chosen, the SQL table behind the parent-child dimension is flattened and added to the DSV with the prefix "DimNaturalized_", the new naturalized dimension is built, it is added to the cube, and the dimension and cubes are processed using ProcessFull.
If you have not built a parent-child dimension yet, consider building one as the above option will save you lots of work. If you choose not to build a parent-child dimension and then naturalize it, you can still have BIDS Helper create you a SQL view with the flattened parent-child dimension table. This option can be launched from the right-click context menu on the DSV:
You are then prompted with the following screen which lets you choose the parent-child table to flatten:
Upon clicking Naturalize, the flattened SQL table is created and added to the DSV with the prefix "DimNaturalized_".
Please see the
Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer project for more documentation on exactly what's happening under the covers.