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WarehouseArchitect - User's Guide

Part 3 WarehouseArchitect Model

Chapter 19: Managing WarehouseArchitect Models

Chapter 19
Managing WarehouseArchitect Models

About this chapterThis chapter describes how to manage objects in a WarehouseArchitect Model (WAM) with users and object owners. It also describes checking the validity of a WAM and merging WAM.

Managing users and owners

OwnersWhen a user is attached to an object, it becomes the owner of that object. Each object can only have one owner at a time. Only an object owner has the right to modify the object. In a WAM, you use the owner relationship to help to organize and keep track of modifications to objects in the model.

ExampleWhen you create a table, by default the object has no owner. You can select your user name from a list of users, and attach it to the table. You then become the table's owner.

Owners for tables and viewsIn a WAM, the following objects can have owners:

• Tables
• Views

Each table or view in a WAM, can have only one owner at a time.

Owner usesYou can use object owners for the following purposes:

Use	Description
Managing object modifications in a WAM	In a model where many users have access to the same objects, you can control object modifications by attaching owners to objects
Generating a database for owner specific objects	In a model where many users have access to the same objects, you can generate a database only for the objects that belong to a particular owner

Creating a user

You need to create a user before you can attach that user to an object.

• To create a user:
  1. Select Dictionary-->List of Users.

     The List of Users appears.

     

  2. Click a blank line in the list.

     or

     Click the New button.

  3. Type a user name and code.

     or

     Type a user name and click the Equals button in the code column.

  4. Click OK.

Attaching an object to a user

You can attach one or more objects in a WAM to a user. When you attach an object to a user, the user becomes the owner of that object. You can attach the following objects to a user:

• Tables
• Views

• To attach an object to a user:
  1. Select Dictionary-->List of Users.

     The List of Users appears.

     

  2. Click a user name.

  3. Click the Attach button.

     The Attach Objects to the User dialog box appears.

     

  4. From the Available Objects dropdown list, select the type of object you want to attach to the user.

  5. From the list of object names, select one or more objects.

  6. Click the Add button.

  7. Click OK.

Selecting an object owner

There are two approaches for selecting an owner for a table or view:

• Select an owner from the table or view property sheet
• Select one or more tables or views to attach to the owner from the list of tables or views

Selecting an owner for a table or view

• To select an owner for a table or view:
  1. Double-click a table in the model with the Pointer tool.

     or

     Double-click a view in the model with the Pointer tool.

     The table property sheet or the View property sheet appears.

     

  2. From the Owner drop down list, select an owner.

  3. Click OK.

Selecting a table or view for an owner

• To select a table or view for an owner:
  1. Select Dictionary-->List of Tables.

     or

     Select Dictionary-->Views-->List of Views.

     The List of Tables or the List of Views appears.

     

  2. Select one or more tables.

     or

     Select one or more views.

  3. From the Owner drop down list, select an owner.

  4. Click OK.

Checking a WAM

The following general rules apply to WAM:

• Each table must have at least one column
• Each table must have a primary key
• Each index must have at least one column
• Each reference must have at least one column pair

The procedure that generates a database starts by checking the validity of the WAM. If an error is found, the database (or database generation script) is not generated.

WAM check options

When you check a WAM, two types of messages can result:

Message	Description
Error	Major problem that impedes database generation
Warning	Minor problem or recommendation
Database constraint	Problem linked to incompatibility with target database

You choose what types of messages to display for the following WAM objects:

• Table
• Index
• Column
• Reference
• User
• DW Object
• External Object
• All objects

Old model specific checks S-Designor detected certain errors which you cannot recreate with PowerDesigner. If you are using a model created with S-Designor, you can detect these errors by selecting the Old Model Specific Checks checkbox.

You must choose one of the following correction options:

Option	Description
Manual correction	Displays error and warning messages
Simulate automatic correction	Displays error and warning messages Displays description of automatic correction
Automatic correction	Displays error and warning messages Corrects certain errors automatically

Checking a global WAM

• To check a global WAM:
  1. Select Dictionary-->Check Model.

     The Check a Data Warehouse Model dialog box appears.

     

  2. Select check options.

  3. Click OK.

     The Check Model Messages dialog box displays errors and warnings, based on your choice of check options.

     If there are no errors in the model, the last message indicates that the model is correct. If any errors are found, the last message indicates that the model is incorrect.

     

  4. Click OK.

Checking a WAM submodel

You can restrict checks to the current submodel. This allows you to verify your own submodels independently of those belonging to other designers.

• To check a submodel of a WAM:
  1. Select Dictionary-->Check Model.

     A confirmation box appears.

     

  2. Click Check the Current Submodel to check the validity of the submodel.

     The Check a Data Warehouse Model dialog box appears.

     

  3. Select check options.

  4. Click OK.

     The Check Model Messages dialog box displays errors and warnings, based on your choice of check options.

     If there are no errors in the model, the last message indicates that the model is correct. If any errors are found, the last message indicates that the model is incorrect.

     

  5. Click OK.

Making corrections based on WAM check results

You can use the check procedure to locate problems in the WAM. The check results include suggestions for correcting problems.

You must choose one of the following correction options:

Option	Description
Manual correction	Displays error and warning messages
Simulate automatic correction	Displays error and warning messages Displays description of automatic correction
Automatic correction	Displays error and warning messages Corrects certain errors automatically

Automatic correction fixes the following types of errors and warnings:

• Inappropriate foreign key columns
• Non-unique names
• Code too long for target database (if you select Database Constraints)
• Inappropriate primary keys, foreign keys, and unique indexes
• Divergence in domain values, check parameters, validation rules, and extended attribute values for auto-migrated foreign keys
  

  Divergence in auto-migrated foreign keys Divergence in domain values, check parameters, validation rules, and extended attribute values for an auto-migrated foreign key, are only corrected if you have selected the corresponding auto-migrate options in Model options

You must always correct other errors manually.

Making manual corrections to a WAM

• To make manual corrections to a WAM:
  1. Select Dictionary-->Check Model.

     The Check a Data Warehouse Model dialog box appears.

  2. Select check options.

  3. Select the Manual Correction radio button.

     

  4. Click OK.

     The Check Model Messages dialog box displays errors and warnings, based on your choice of check options.

  5. Select a line starting with an arrow directly below an error or a warning.

     

     The Description textbox indicates the object that is the source of the error or warning. The Suggestion textbox explains the reason for the error or warning and suggests a way to correct it.

  6. Click the Correct button.

     A dialog box in which you can correct the problem appears.

  7. Make the suggested correction.

  8. Click OK.

     You return to the Check Model Messages dialog box.

  9. Repeat steps 4 to 7 for another error or warning.

     or

     Click OK to return to the WAM workspace.

Simulating automatic corrections to a WAM

• To simulate automatic corrections to a WAM:
  1. Select Dictionary-->Check Model.

     The Check a Data Warehouse Model dialog box appears.

  2. Select check options.

  3. Select the Simulate Automatic Correction radio button.

     

  4. Click OK.

     The Check Model Messages dialog box displays errors and warnings, based on your choice of check options.

  5. Select a line stating "An automatic correction is available for this anomaly."

     

     The Description textbox describes automatic correction for this error or warning.

  6. Click OK to return to the WAM workspace.

Making automatic corrections to the WAM

• To make automatic corrections to a WAM:
  1. Select Dictionary-->Check Model.

     The Check a Data Warehouse Model dialog box appears.

  2. Select check options.

  3. Select the Automatic Correction radio button.

     

  4. Click OK.

     The Check Model Messages dialog box displays errors and warnings, based on your choice of check options.

  5. Select a line stating "This anomaly has been automatically corrected."

The Description textbox describes automatic correction for this error or warning.

1. Click OK to return to the WAM workspace.

Displaying errors and warnings

If you close the message window by clicking OK, all error and warning messages are stored in memory.

• To display errors and warnings found by the last check:
  • Select Dictionary-->Display Messages.

Merging two WAM

When the merge process finds two objects have the same code, you indicate whether or not the definition of the object in the second model should replace the definition in the current model.

• To merge WAM:
  1. Open a WAM.

  2. Select File-->Utilities-->Merge.

     A file selection dialog box displays.

  3. Select a WAM.

  4. Click OK.

     A confirmation message box appears:

     

  5. Click one of the following buttons:

     Button	Action
     Yes	Replace model properties in current WAM with model properties from second WAM
     Yes to All	Replace model properties in current WAM with model properties in second WAM and replace all objects in current WAM with objects from the second WAM, if objects have the same code
     No	Do not replace model properties in current WAM with model properties from second WAM
     No to All	Do not replace model properties in current WAM with model properties in second WAM and do not replace any objects in current WAM with objects from the second WAM, if objects have the same code
     Interrupt	Discontinue merge

     
     
     If you selected Yes or No, whenever the merge process encounters two objects with the same code, it displays a confirmation message box.

     

  6. If this PowerDesigner Confirmation box appears, click one of the following buttons:

     Button	Action
     Yes	Replace object in current WAM with object from second WAM
     Yes to All	Replace all objects in current WAM with objects from the second WAM, if objects have the same code
     No	Do not replace object in current WAM with object from second WAM
     No to All	Do not replace any objects in the current WAM with objects from the second WAM
     Interrupt	Discontinue merge

     
     
     
     

     Merging unique codes with a non-unique codes If you selected the model option Unique Code for the current WAM and did not select this model option in the second WAM, the merge process assigns unique codes automatically. An information box displays a message telling you that a reference will be assigned a new code.

     
     

  7. Select File-->Save As to save the merged model.

Importing an ERwin model into a WAM

Objects importedYou can import a model built with ERwin into a WAM.

The following objects are imported directly:

Annotation

Business rule

Column

Description

Domain

External column

External database

External table

Index

Key

PowerBuilder extended attribute

Reference

Referential integrity constraint

Table

Tablespace

Target database

Text

In addition, the import process translates ERwin objects into WAM objects as follows:

Object in an Erwin model	Imported object in a WAM
Fact	Fact table or table*
Dimension	Dimension table or table*
Outrigger	Dimension table or table*
Stored display and subject area	Submodel
Relationship and subtype relationship	Reference
Valid value	Check parameter
Segment	Storage

* Imported as a table if object was in automatic mode in ERwin.

You can retrieve the original fact and dimension tables by selecting Retrieve Multidimensional objects in the WAM menu.

Objects not importedYou cannot import User-Defined Properties, Rules, ERwin triggers, ERwin reports, or ER1 files. If you are using ERwin/SQL, generate a database from your ER1 file and then reverse engineer that database into a WAM.

• To import an ERwin model:
  1. Select File-->Import.

     A standard file selection dialog box displays.

  2. Select a file with the ERX extension.

  3. Click OK.

     A message box lists all imported objects.

  4. Click OK.

ERwin external databasesWhen you import external databases, they are not displayed in the workspace. You can make them visible by selecting the Display checkbox in the List of External Tables.