Custom Calculations Are a Snap When Using MDX and OLAP

With version 9 of SAS came with a completely new OLAP framework that would give developers the ability to customize OLAP report data in ways never before possible from within SAS. Multidimensional Expression Language (MDX) is the foundation of v9 SAS cubes and is responsible for the increased flexibility and functionality. There are more ways to access, manipulate, and display cubes than previously possible. This paper will focus on these new concepts to SAS OLAP and will guide the user in the utilization of these new tools. The main driver behind the increased flexibility described above is the "Define Member" and "Define Set" statements. These statements, which are available through the new OLAP framework, enable calculations to be processed at runtime.