About Dimension Data Validation

What is Dimension Data Validation?

With the OLAP Option to Oracle Database, you can create dimensional objects to use for online analytic processing. You can define OLAP cubes and dimensions and map them to tables and views in your database. You store the cubes and dimensions in an analytic workspace.

You can create and manage analytic workspaces and their dimensional objects by using the OLAP extension to SQL Developer. For information about the OLAP extension, see Oracle OLAP Concepts and Usage in the main SQL Developer help topics. The SQL Developer OLAP extension refers to analytic workspace dimensions as cube dimensions.

The Dimension Data Validation extension to SQL Developer provides reports that quickly find conditions in dimension table data that might cause errors when maintaining an OLAP dimension or cause problems when querying a cube using a business intelligence tool. Dimension Data Validation also reports errors in mapping the dimension metadata to database columns.

Dimension Data Validation is intended for quick tests and fixes during proof of concept and development phases of an OLAP cube. It is not intended as a replacement for a full-featured data quality tool. It does not find and fix every possible data error. Use it to quickly find and fix certain errors so that the process of designing OLAP cubes can continue.

Dimension Data Validation provides the following features:

• Views of dimension metadata and the mappings of the metadata to database columns

• High-level summary reports that help identify problems

• Detailed reports that identify the dimension members that might cause a problem

• Methods that can quickly fix many different types of data errors in dimension tables so that the process of designing and testing dimensions and cubes can continue

With Dimension Data Validation, you can also do the following:

• Synchronize the view of the metadata and mappings with the current state of the source tables.

• Export the SQL for the fixes to SQL Developer Worksheet or to the clipboard

• Return to the same level in the report you were viewing when you exited Dimension Data Validation if you restart the extension while you are in the same SQL Developer session

Verifying the Presence of the Dimension Data Validation Extension

The Dimension Data Validation extension is available in SQL Developer 4.1. It does not run in Release 4.0 or earlier releases.

To verify that the Dimension Data Validation extension is loaded: 

1. Open the Help menu and click About.

2. Select the Extensions tab.

3. Scroll down the alphabetical list of extensions until you find OLAPDV.

Typical Use of Dimension Data Validation

The Dimension Data Validation extension operates on the dimensions of an OLAP analytic workspace. Tasks involved in a typical use of Dimension Data Validation are the following.

• Start the extension. On the All Messages tab, view the messages for all reports that have been generated. If this is the first use of Dimension Data Validation, no messages are displayed.

• In the navigation tree, double-click the analytic workspace to display the list of reports that you can run.

• View the metadata and mappings tab and correct any problems in the mappings of the data sources to the analytic workspace metadata.

• Generate one or more reports.

• Fix problems.

• Synchronize the Dimension Data Validation extension with the analytic workspace metadata.

• Generate reports again to verify fixes or view new messages.

Requirements for Using Dimension Data Validation

To use Dimension Data Validation, your database schema must meet the following requirements:

• It must have at least one dimension table.

• The dimension table must include data.

• The user that runs Dimension Data Validation must have CREATE TABLE and CREATE SEQUENCE privileges in the schema because Dimension Data Validation creates two tables and a sequence.

Dimension Data Validation supports both star and snowflake schema implementations of dimension tables. However, it only supports mappings of level-based dimension hierarchies to single columns in the database source tables.

It does not support mappings to value-based hierarchies. It also does not support mappings to SQL expressions, constants, or concatenated columns.

Tables and Sequences Created by Dimension Data Validation

Dimension Data Validation creates the following tables and sequences to store metadata about the dimension tables and the results of tests:

• OLAP_DIM_DATA_VALIDATION

• OLAP_DIM_VALIDATE_LAST_RUN

• OLAP_DIM_DATA_VALIDATE_SEQ

Verifying the Presence of the Dimension Data Validation Extension

The Dimension Data Validation extension is available in SQL Developer 4.1. It does not run in Release 4.0 or earlier releases.

To verify that the Dimension Data Validation extension is loaded: 

1. Open the Help menu and click About.

2. Select the Extensions tab.

3. Scroll down the alphabetical list of extensions until you find OLAPDV.