Browsing an Unprocessed Cube

If a cube has not been processed since it was last changed, the following message appears when you open the Cube browser by right-clicking a cube and then clicking Browse Data:

Unable to browse the cube 'cube-name'.
Cube not processed. To browse sample data for this cube, open
the Cube editor, and then on the View menu, click Data.

The Cube browser does not display data for an unprocessed cube. (An exception is that when you create a new cube in the Cube wizard and click Browse Sample Data in the wizard’s last step, the Cube browser displays sample data.) If you receive this message, you have two options.

First, you can close the Cube browser, process the cube, and then browse it with the Cube browser. However, cube processing can take considerable time. For more information about processing cubes, see Processing Cubes Using the OLAP Manager.

Second, you can close the Cube browser and browse sample data in the Cube editor. Browsing sample data enables you to preview the structure of a cube without viewing its actual data.

To browse sample data in the Cube editor

In the OLAP Manager tree view, under the Cubes folder, right-click an unprocessed cube, and then click Edit.
In the Cube editor, on the View menu, click Data.

Microsoft® SQL Server™ OLAP Services displays the Cube editor’s Browse pane with sample data in the data grid. The following message is displayed at the bottom of the Cube editor:

! Cube is not processed. Viewing sample data.

Sample data is generated during cube editing sessions so that you can view the impact of your changes without having to process the cube after each change. At the conclusion of a cube editing session, process the cube to view the actual data in the Cube browser.