Task Catalogue

The Task Catalogue lists the administrative tasks which may be configured with your Raedfast installation.

Immediately below is a list of the tasks with a brief description of each. Click on the name of a task to go directly to its catalogue entry, or scroll down to scroll through the catalogue in alphabetical order.

Analysing rules

  • The Analyse rules task analyses which dimensions, rollup tables and elements are being used in which model steps.

Rebuilding the Analysis Services database

Adding, renaming and deleting measures

Listing and deleting childless rollups

Listing and deleting unused elements

  • The List unused elements task displays a list of base-level dimension elements which are not used, and therefore potentially redundant.

  • The Delete unused elements task deletes base-level elements in dimensions which are not used.

Backing up the SQL Server database

  • The Backup database task backs up the SQL Server database to a folder of your choosing.

Add measure

 

Use this task to add a measure to the model.

The measure is added to the ActivityModel table only, not the ActivityHistory table.

(To add a measure to the ActivityHistory table please consult your system administrator or Raedfast support.)

Parameters

Measure

The name of the new measure.

Precision

All measures are decimal in format. The format of the decimal is defined by two numbers: Precision and Scale.

Precision is the maximum total length of the number in digits.

Scale

Scale is the number of digits in the decimal, to the right of the decimal point.

For example, 123.456789 has precision 9 and scale 6.

Determining Precision and Scale

We recommend that you use one of two formats for new measures.

  • If the measure is an activity or financial measure, with (at least sometimes) a high value per record, set Precision to 19 and Scale to 4. Examples would be Cases, BedDays, TariffValue.

  • If the measure is a resource measure, with a low value per record, set Precision to 9 and Scale to 6. Examples would be Beds, Theatres, FloorSpace.

Most of the new measures you add will be resource measures, so normally you should use Precision 9, Scale 6.

Impact on model processing time

A measure with Precision 19 takes up more space in the database than one with Precision 9, with consequent impact on model processing time. So use Precision 9 unless you have a reason not to.

Analyse rules

 

Use this task to analyse which dimensions, rollup tables and elements are being used in which model steps.

Backup database

 

Use this task to backup the SQL Server database to a folder of your choosing.

This function is normally applicable only if you are running Raedfast on a stand-alone computer. If the database is on a network drive then you will expect to use your IT department’s backup functions. In this circumstance the Raedfast Backup database function will have been disabled and will not appear in the Task list.

Parameters

Location of Backup

Enter the folder in which you wish the backup to be placed. You can enter the folder name manually, or copy the address in Windows Explorer and paste it in.

The backup file created is called <YourDatabaseName>.bak

Managing backups

The backup process will add the new backup into any existing backup file, so that the database can to be restored to an earlier backup than the latest. This means you can restore the database to its state of say two days ago, if you made an error yesterday but did not notice the error before you took a new backup last night. It also means however that the backup file will get bigger every time you take a backup. At intervals therefore you should delete the existing backup file, or rename it if you wish to keep it.

Our recommendation would be that you:

  • take a backup at the end of each day

  • at the end of a week, rename the backup file but keep it in case of need

  • at the end of a week (or two weeks, etc.) clear out the older backup files

Restoring a database from a backup

You cannot restore the database from within the Raedfast front-end. This must be done instead through SQL Server Management Studio. For guidance on how to do this, refer to Microsoft documentation here.

Delete measure

 

Use this task to delete a measure from the model.

The measure is deleted from the ActivityModel table only, not the ActivityHistory table.

(To delete a measure from the ActivityHistory table please consult your system administrator or Raedfast support.)

Measures used in rules

You cannot delete a measure if it is being used in the definition of any model rule.

Parameters

Measure

The name of the measure to be deleted.

Delete childless rollups

 

Use this task to delete rollup elements which are childless.

Before deleting childless rollups, you may wish to run task List Childless Rollups, to obtain a list of the elements which will be deleted. If there are elements in the list you wish to retain for future use, you can map them in the dimension temporarily to any base element, to exclude them from the list of elements to be deleted.

Please refer to List ChildLess Rollups below for a definition of a childless rollup.

Delete unused elements

 

Use this task to delete base-level elements in dimensions which are not used.

Before deleting unused elements, you may wish to run task List Unused Elements, to obtain a list of the elements which will be deleted. If there are elements in the list you wish to retain for future use, you can create a dummy model step and reference them in the step, to exclude them from the list of elements to be deleted.

Please refer to List Unused Elements below for a definition of an unused element..

List childless rollups

 

Use this task to view a list of rollup elements which are childless — i.e. rollup elements which are not mapped to elements in their child table, or which, though mapped to elements in the immediate child table, are not ultimately mapped to base level elements because the child elements at some level are themselves childless .

Childless elements by definition will not effect anything when used in rules, and will not return data when used in analysis of model data.

Such elements can come about if rollups are created, but not mapped to elements in their child table, or if mappings are changed, leaving rollup elements which were once mapped now unmapped.

You can use the task DeleteChildlessRollups to delete the elements in the list.

List unused elements

 

Use this task to view a list of base-level dimension elements which are not used.

Not used means that they occur neither in the data in the ActivityHistory table, nor in the definition of rules. If both these conditions are met then no data will ever exist for these elements, and they may be considered redundant.

Elements in the ActivityStep, ActivityScenario and Year dimensions are excluded from the list, as these are applied implicitly in model processing, even where they are not explicitly used in rules. Elements of the form <DimensionName> NA are also excluded, as these are assumed to be default values for the dimension in question, and may be required to play the role of default for data loaded in future, even if they are not used at present.

Rename measure

 

Use this task to rename a measure in the model.

The measure is renamed in the ActivityModel table only, not the ActivityHistory table.

(To rename a measure in the ActivityHistory table please consult your system administrator or Raedfast support.)

Parameters

Old Measure Name

The name of the measure to be renamed.

New Measure Name

The new name for the measure.

Rebuild the Analysis Services database

 

Use this task to rebuild the integrated Analysis Services database.

You will need to execute this task after adding, renaming or deleting measures.

Parameters

Include Row Counts

Set this parameter to Yes to include row counts for the ActivityHistory and ActivityModel tables in the Analysis Services pivot.

This can be useful in order to see the effect of different modelling strategies on the size of the ActivityModel table.

If you have a step which is taking a long time to process, and is perhaps causing subsequent steps to take a long time to process, you might turn on Row Counts and check to see if the step is generating a very large number of records.

Turn auto-update of Analysis Services on or off

 

Use this task to turn on or off the automatic updating of the integrated Analysis Services database.

Automatic update

If the switch is on then Raedfast will automatically update the Ana;ysis Services database:

  • at the end of model processing

  • whenever new historical data is loaded into the ActivityHistory table through the Excel Add-In

  • whenever dimension data is modified

  • whenever dimension rollups are added, renamed or deleted

The task will delete the existing Analysis Services database (if any), and rebuild it from the SQL Server database.

Reasons to turn off automatic update

You should normally leave automatic update turned on.

You may however wish to turn it off:

  • if the Analysis Services database is for some reason unavailable

  • if you are doing a lot of work on the model which does not require the use of the Analysis Services database to analyse the output, and you do not wish to wait for the Analysis Services database to update at the end of each model processing run

Turning automatic update on after changes

If the switch has been turned off, and you turn it on again, you may need to run task Rebuild the Analysis Services database before doing any further work, in order to ensure that the Analysis Services database is up-to-date with changes made to the SQL Server database while the switch was turned off.

For example, if you turn the switch off, then add a new dimension rollup, then turn it on again, the Analysis Services database will not know about the new dimension rollup, and will generate an error if Raedfast tries to update the dimension in Analysis Services later on.