Troubleshoot Custom Reports Created with Analysis Cubes

There are some common questions you may have while working on Analysis Cubes.

Issue	Solution
I open a Vision custom report in Excel 2007. When I try to refresh and connect to the Vision data cube, I receive a message that says "Initialization of the data source failed."	Before you can refresh and connect to a Vision data cube in a saved custom report, you must have appropriate SQL Server rights. Contact your Vision system administrator for help with this.
I have <empty> or Unknown items on my report	An <empty> item displays on a Vision custom report if a Vision field is blank or a row contains subtotals or totals. An Unknown item displays on a Vision custom report if a Vision field contains bad, invalid, or orphaned data. The source of bad data might be a problem with conversions, history loading, or importing. To remove <empty> or Unknown items from a report, click the down arrow beside Row Labels or Column Labels, and from the list of report items, clear the check box beside the <empty> or Unknown items.
Record counts are higher on my report than what I see in the Vision Info Center	It is possible for record counts on Analysis Cube custom reports (for records such as projects, employee, clients, and so on) not to match the records that you see in the Vision Info Centers. The following are some scenarios in which a custom report may count a record that does not display within the Vision Info Center: Normally, you will notice record count differences in Analysis Cubes reports when you see records that have an organization or some other dimension value of <empty> or Unknown. You can prevent these records from displaying on a custom report. For instructions, see Empty or Unknown Items on a Report.
A zero displays instead of the field name in a column heading in my report	This occurs because of the way Vision data is stored. Report example (using the Project OLAP cube): Project Number - ShortName is selected as a row label. Fiscal Year is selected as a column label. Project - Total Compensation is selected as a value. The Project Total Compensation column heading is 0. This occurs because Project Compensation is not stored by fiscal year in the Vision Project Info Center. Project Compensation is stored in Vision without a time value. In this custom report, you see the same grand total amount in both the Grand Total and Project Compensation columns.
The data in my custom report is not current	Vision data cubes must be refreshed (updated with current data from the Vision transactional database) on a regular basis. By default, the refresh process occurs automatically every night at midnight. A Vision system administrator can modify the time that the automatic refresh occurs or perform additional refreshes on demand using with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. The time it takes to rebuild the data warehouse and refresh the data cubes depends on many factors, such as hardware and server settings. The rebuild process has been performance-tuned to process as quickly as possible.
I summed two columns, and after I copied the sum formula to other rows, it does not sum correctly	A formula copies correctly if you create the original formula using the Sum option from the Editing group of the Home tab or if you manually type the complete formula in the cell. Formulas do not copy correctly if when you create them, you press the arrow keys on your keyboard or you select a cell with your mouse pointer. For example, you press PLUS SIGN (+) on your keyboard, and click the first cell to add. Then you press + on your keyboard again, and click another cell to add. Excel 2007 help topics that provide more information on formulas are: Move or copy a formula Switch between relative, absolute, and mixed references
The Filter dimensions do not display in the PivotTable Field List in my Excel workbook	When you open an existing Excel workbook in Excel 2007 to create a Vision custom report, the workbook must be an Excel 2007 file (saved with an .xlsx file extension) and not an Excel 97-2003 file (saved with an .xls file extension). When you open an Excel 97-2003 file in Excel 2007, the PivotTable Field List does not display Vision Filter dimensions, and other functionality and formatting does not work or display. If you have an Excel 97-2003 file in which you want to add a PivotTable, open the file in Excel 2007, and save it as an Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) file type. Then close the file and reopen it for full Excel 2007 PivotTable functionality to be included in the file.
Functionality and formatting for my PivotTable report in Excel are missing	When you open an existing Excel workbook in Excel 2007 to create a Vision custom report, the workbook must be an Excel 2007 file (saved with an .xlsx file extension) and not an Excel 97-2003 file (saved with an .xls file extension). When you open an Excel 97-2003 file in Excel 2007, the PivotTable Field List does not display Vision Filter dimensions, and other functionality and formatting does not work or display. If you have an Excel 97-2003 file in which you want to add a PivotTable, open the file in Excel 2007, and save it as an Excel Workbook (*.xlsx) file type. Then close the file and reopen it for full Excel 2007 PivotTable functionality to be included in the file.
A dimension that was previously included in my report design is gone	If a system administrator changed a field label in Vision, that field (dimension) is removed from the Analysis Cubes report design. After you refresh the report design in Excel, you must re-add the dimension, now with the new name, to the report design. Example: A report contains the dimension named Vendor, and your system administrator changes the label from Vendor to Consultant. After you refresh the report, the dimension named Vendor is removed from the report, and the name Consultant does not replace it. You must select Consultant from the PivotTable Field List to add it to the report.