Doing some research on various performance topics I came across the fact that Analytic views are now shown as star joins in revisions >= SPS9.
They seem almost identical with the following differences
- Analytic views only allow attribute views in the Star Join
- Star Join CV's only allow DIMENSION or '' blank data category calculation views in the Star Join
- Advanced View properties are different in each
So to me, the concept is the same; work up a "fact" table, whether physically or virtually, then add dimensional attributes with a Star Join. Using a N:1 Cardinality explicitly allows pruning off of joins defined as left outer or referential, which should be the goal.
Additionally, the VizPlan indicates a much different execution for each (as expected); whereas the analytic view executes solely in OLAP and the calculation views is completely in the SQL/JE regardless of the "Execute In" property. The CV I used was a simple one, otherwise some of the CE operators may have been invoked.
Is there going to be a convergence of this or will the two modeling artifacts remain separate? Any specific technical advantages in either case? From what I know from a few presentations is that the Analytic View will be migrating to this Star Join, but not 100% certain.
Star Join Calculation View
Analytic View
Happy HANA,
Justin