SSAS: Which change makes the cube/dimension unprocessed?

In many cases, some of OLAP cubes are huge and Full Process takes a lot of time.

Therefore, it’s important to know which change, when the updated solution is deployed, causes the cube to move to “Unprocessed” status and needs new full process. Dimension process status is also critical since if dimension moves to unprocessed, all cubes that have connection to this dimension will be unprocessed too.

Here is the detailed tested list of different actions, and how they apply on cube (tested on SSAS 2008. I don’t remember any difference with  SSAS 2005, but not certified)

We can summarize the results in one sentence: Every action that affects data will move cube or dimension status to unprocessed. Such changes are also called structural changes, meaning any change that apply on cube/dimension structure (new element, edition on aggregation method, etc.) and therefore will require data loading or reloading.

One exception: Adding or deleting translation to dimension unprocesses it when deployed. I don’t know why..

And now to the detailed list:

Type	Action	Unprocess cube/dimension?
Cube	New measure group	Yes
Cube	New measure	Yes
Cube	Edit measure aggregation method	Yes
Cube	Measure format	No
Cube	Measure name	No
Cube	Measure display folder	No
Cube	ErrorConfiguration edition	No
Cube	Edit dimension usage	Yes
Cube	Calculations	No
Cube	Add, edit or delete kpi	No
Cube	Add, edit or delete action	No
Cube	Edit partition query	No, not applied till next process.
Cube	Add new partition	No, new partition unprocessed.
Cube	Edit partition storage mode	No, but data is empty.
Cube	Create,edit and assign aggregations	No, not applied till next process.
Cube	Add, edit or delete perspective	No
Cube	Add, edit or delete translation	No
Dim	Add attribute to dim	Yes
Dim	Edit attribute name	No
Dim	Order by property of attribute	Yes
Dim	AttributeHierarchyVisible property	No
Dim	Edit attribute relationship	Yes
Dim	Add or delete translation to dim	Yes
Dim	Edit translation	No
Other	Add, Edit, Delete Role	No
Other	Edit data source	No, not applied till next process.
Other	Edit DSV	No

Finally, 3 remarks:

·         BIDS Helper add-in gives you possibility to deploy MDX script or aggregations only, so you can be sure nothing else is affected.

·         Use Deployment Wizard tool when you want to deploy without overwriting Partitions or roles, in cases they were edited in the OLAP DB.

·         If your cube is down and you need to have one measure group/partition available without processing the entire cube (because of process long time), you can first process the cube with “Process structure” Process mode. It will move cube status to Processed but without any data. Then you can process the specific part you want and it will be available.