Summary:
We are implementing EPM and have two questions:

Why is it necessary to implement the data mart part when you can build the Cube Manager from the Data Warehouse?
Can you drill-through from the PS generated cube down to the SQL database (with cogos/essbase cube)?

Answer

The Cube Manager is a nifty little tool and I have built many EPM Cognos cubes with it in the past. It essentially builds a virtual “star-schema” on the fly and creates an MDL file for Cognos Transformer to convert into a cube.

However, there are some advantages to building out an open data mart in your warehouse. For one, it makes it very easy for other reporting/query tools to utilize your dimension and fact tables. It can allow for easier drill-through from Cognos cubes into Impromptu reports running against data in your data mart. It also allows for smoother handling of security issues.

Also, Cube Manager appears to have a limited life in People Tools. I do not believe there is any development going on in that area. Another downside of Cube Manager is formatting — you have to mess around with post build scripts and make sure you are using the right MDL (sometimes the post build scripts will blow out and you have to rebuild them).

*Questions excerpted from ITToolBox.com*

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