OLAP Cubes and Pivot Tables Leveraging the Power of a Microsoft EPM Solution EPM Customization Series Part 1 February 21 st, 2007 Brendan Giles, PMP, MCP

Slide 2 Overview Components of a Microsoft EPM Solution Review the purpose of each component in EPM How the components are integrated to form an EPM Solution How to extend a Microsoft EPM using Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Summary Next Steps using Visual Studio (2 nd Presentation) Questions and Wrap-up

Slide 3 Acronyms EPM Enterprise Project Management – Centralized control, Shared Resources, Portfolio / Project Reporting and tracking at the enterprise level. OLAP Online Analytical Processing – Used to describe the multi-dimensional databases also know as OLAP Cubes SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol – Communication Protocol used to transfer data in a Microsoft EPM Solution. CBS Cube Building Service. RDB Report Database used in EPM 2007

Slide 4 Components of Microsoft EPM? What software products make up a Microsoft EPM solution? Microsoft Office Project Professional Microsoft Office Project Server Windows Sharepoint Services SQL Server SQL Analysis Services Microsoft Office Excel Others? Do they work together? Yes Can they work alone? Yes

Slide 5 Microsoft EPM Solution 2003

Slide 6 Microsoft EPM Solution 2007 OLAP Data

Slide 7 Components of an EPM Solution Microsoft Office Project Professional EPM Client Tier Creation of Project Plans Scheduling Reporting Connection to Project Server Office Integration

Slide 8 Components of an EPM Solution Microsoft Office Project Server EPM Middle Tier Web Application access via Project Web Access EPM Administration Connection to Client and Database Tiers Project, Task, Resource Web UI Portfolio Analysis Web UI Time Tracking Web UI Office Integration

Slide 9 Components of an EPM Solution Windows Sharepoint Services Project Web Site Support Document Management Risk and Issue Tracking Project Announcements Online Team Interaction Connection to Database Tier Office Integration

Slide 10 Components of an EPM Solution SQL Server Hosts Project Server Databases Host Sharepoint Databases Database Maintenance Data Transformation Services Online Team Interaction Connection to SQL Analysis Services Includes a new Reporting Database in EPM 2007 Office Integration

Slide 11 Components of an EPM Solution SQL Analysis Services Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Supports Portfolio Analyzer Manages OLAP Cubes OLAP Cubes accessible through Project Web Access and Excel Supports OLAP Database Maintenance

Slide 12 Components of an EPM Solution Microsoft Office Excel OLAP Pivot Tables Import / Export with PWA and Microsoft Office Project Analyze Time Phased Data in Excel Microsoft Office Copy Picture to Office Wizard OLE DB Integration

Slide 13 Introduction to OLAP  OLAP Databases are multi-dimensional databases  Consist of Measures and Dimensions  Measures come from FACT tables Types of Measures FACT Table Fields Calculated Measures using FACT Table Fields Types of Dimensions Date Standard

Slide 14 Introduction to OLAP  OLAP Cubes allow a lot of flexibility  Dimensions can be re- grouped to provide a different view of the resulting measure Work Measure Project Dimension Resource Dimension Period Date Dimension FACT Table

Slide 15 Introduction to OLAP  An OLAP Cube needs at least one FACT table  Manipulation of the Dimensions produces the result from the FACT Table Measures Work Measure Period Date Dimension Project Dimension Department Dimension FACT Table

Slide 16 Introduction to OLAP OLAP Database Queries (MDX) Show me work (Measure) by Project (Standard Dimension) by Quarter (Date Dimension) Show me Cost (Measure) For MPA Projects (Standard Dimension) For PMI Projects (Standard Dimension) By Quarter (Date Dimension)

Slide 17 Project Server Database FACT Tables MSP_ASSN_FACT Project Measures such as Project Work and Cost MSP_RES_AVAIL_FACT Resource Availability Measures Analysis Manager

Slide 18 First OLAP Demo Collaboration of EPM Tools Microsoft SQL Analysis Services Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables Using Microsoft Project Database Add Tables

Slide 19 Updating OLAP Cubes Project Server 2003 refreshes the OLAP Cube Tables using a scheduled task from Admin > Manage Enterprise Features

Slide 20 Updating OLAP Cubes Project Server 2007 keeps it Reporting Database up-to-date with the main Project Server database The Project Server 2007 Reporting Database is the source of OLAP Data The are a number of pre-designed or internal OLAP Cubes available in Project Server 2007

Slide 21 Project Server Database OLAP Related Tables 2003 MSP Cube Tables MSP_CUBE_PROJECTS MSP_CUBE_RESOURCES MSP_CUBE_TIME_BY_DAY MSP_CUBE_DATE_FIELDS 2007 Reporting Database MSP_EpmResource MSP_EpmProject MSP_TimeByDay   ……and much more

Slide 22 Updating OLAP Cubes User defined custom OLAP Cubes can be refreshed on a pre-defined schedule via a Data Transformation Services (DTS) package created in SQL Server OLAP Processing is scheduled via Project Web Access Refresh MSP_CUBE tables Build internal OLAP Cubes

Slide 23 Project Server Database Measures and Dimensions Dimension Time Period Project List Project Versions Resource List Measures Work Actual Work Cost Actual Cost SQL Analysis Manager Dimension Resource List Dimension Time Dimension Project List Measure Work Measure Cost

Slide 24 Ready Made OLAP User Interface Microsoft Excel contains OLAP Services functionality Connects to OLAP Datasource Creates Pivot Tables to consume OLAP data Contains a wealth of report formatting templates Can be setup by EPM Administrator or user Source of data and it’s maintenance do not concern the user Allows users to leverage their knowledge of excel to view and manipulate OLAP dimensions and measures without the need for a custom UI

Slide 25 Setup FACT and Dimension Tables FACT Table Dimension Table

Slide 26 Connect to Cube via Excel The Data > Import feature of excel allows a connection to Microsoft OLAP Services

Slide 27 The Excel Pivot Table Pivot Table Toolbar

Slide 28 Project Center In this Demo Environment Projects have been published to Project Server and assigned to the PMI or MPA group

Slide 29 The Excel Pivot Table Created from Published Projects

Slide 30 Overview of Cube Structure Main Project Server Cube Tables MSP_CUBE_PROJECTS MSP_CUBE_RESOURCES MSP_CUBE_TIME_BY_DAY Main OLAP Tables

Slide 31 Connecting an Enterprise Outline Code to the Cube Custom Outline Codes MPA PMI Group Code Add Project Outline Code

Slide 32 Using the Pivot Tables Organizing the Fields Pivot Table Templates New assignments in EPM automatically refelected in the Pivot Table Pivot Table Usage New Assignments Project Plan Updated Cube Refreshed Pivot Table shows updates

Slide 33 OLAP in EPM 2007 (1) OLAP Services Improved in EPM 2007 Project Web Access itself now supports customization of the OLAP Cubes. PWA supports: Adding Enterprise Custom fields as dimensions or measures Adding Calculated measures to the cube Included is a central location for reports that use OLAP Cubes.

Slide 34 OLAP in EPM 2007 (2) Project Server Interface (PSI) CubeAdmin Web Service has programmatic managing and scheduling of cube building. There are 11 default cubes created for: Timephased data Project Task Resource Assignment Non-timephased Project Task Resource Assignment Timesheet EPM Timesheet Windows Sharepoint Services: Risks, Issues, Deliverables

Slide 35 Summary Microsoft EPM Solution components work together or alone SQL Analysis Services supplies OLAP Cubes Microsoft Excel supplies a User Interface to the OLAP data via Pivot Tables These EPM components can be used to develop custom reporting solutions Microsoft Excel users have a ready made “window” into Project Server Database data

Slide 36 My Next Session Custom EPM Solutions “read-to-go” Microsoft Project Association Presentation planned for November of 2007 Microsoft Project VBA for EPM Managed Code Built in Visual Studio.NET Windows based (C# and VB.NET) Web Based (ASP.NET) Designed to extend EPM 2003 and EPM 2007 Brendan Giles, PMP, MCP

Slide 37 Questions and Answers ?? No such thing as a stupid question ?? Answers ---- we’ll try to have smart answers