SSAS 2008 Unleashed - Chapter 8. Advanced Modeling

Linked Measure Groups

Use a linked measure group when you want to include a measure group from another cube in your cube. That other cube can be in the same database, another database, or even on another computer. (We discuss linked measure groups in detail in Chapter 25, “Building Scalable Analysis Services Applications,” where we cover methods of storing data in the physical data model.)

Using a linked measure group to include data from other cubes enables you to widen the information available in a cube. From the standpoint of the model, you don’t get any additional capabilities from a linked measure group than you get from a regular measure group. You just simplify access to the data that already exists in the model without the repetition of loading it from the various data sources.

Linked measure groups are similar to virtual cubes in Analysis Services 2000, but they enable a new capability: to change the dimensionality of the measure group by including indirect dimensions in the measure group (that is, many-to-many dimensions, referenced dimensions, and data-mining dimensions).

Linked measure groups give new ways of defining different data models based on the models of other cubes. Because of this, the linked measure group is an important element of both the physical model and the conceptual model.