Processing Analysis Services. Notes on the Care and Feeding of an OLAP Database

Anyone who has had the opportunity to work with Microsoft Analysis Services, in multidimensional mode, knows that processing is a series of steps that are used to load data from a relational data source into a model. By default, processing occurs when a solution is deployed or re-deployed to the server from BI Development Studio or SQL Server Data Tools. Processing can also be accomplished using SQL Server Management Studio by using SQL Server Integration Services and SQL Server Agent. What actually happens during processing is dependent on several factors that need to be carefully considered. Structural changes to models, dimension design characteristics, processing options selected, configuration settings, and other executing operations are all important factors that can impact processing performance and the outcome of processing operations.