Gael Duhamel [MVP]

To follow up my post on Power Pivot and Commerce Server, I decided to show you how to achieve three different dashboards and give to you the excel file.

The goal here is not to show you how to create the data source, the relationships and so. You can find very valuable information on a lot of web sites:

• Créer des rapports simples et efficaces pour Commerce Server grâce à PowerPivot (aka Gemini)
• Tutoriel PowerPivot pour Excel – Partie 1/2 : Construction d’un modèle PowerPivot à partir de plusieurs sources de données
• Power Pivot : How To

To achieve theses scenarri you must have:

• Excel 2010
• Addin Power Pivot pour Excel 2010
• A Sql connection to the Commerce Server databases

The databases

To create our different dashboard, we need to connect to two databases:

• Profiles (here SPGael_profiles) : Owns all the profile information for the customers
  • In this table, I have a custom field to store the birthday date. All the others data are native in Commerce Server
• Transactions (here SPGael_transactions) : Owns all the orders information
  • All the data are the native one with Commerce Server.

Select the tables :

• Orders 
  • DiscountsApplied : Owns all the marketing discounts applied on the orders;
  • LineItems : Owns all the line items in the orders;
  • OrderAddresses : Owns all the adresses used for the check out (billing and shipping);
  • OrderForms : Owns the container for the line items (one order has from 1 to n OrderForms and  one OrderForms has from 1 to n LineItems);
  • PurchaseOrderPayments : Owns the different payment methods used during the checkout;
  • PurchaseOrders : Owns the general information about the orders;
  • Shipments : Owns the shipping information used during the checkout;
  • ShippingDiscounts : Owns the shipping discounts applied on an order;
• Customers 
  • UserObjet : Owns the customer information

General dashboard

Order’s dashboard

Customers’ dashboard

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In the Commerce Server enterprise edition, you can have access to the analytics reports and to a data warehouse.

In this post, I will show you how to configure them, and in the same time have a quick look on what it’s look like.

Before to start the installation, you have to install and configure:

• SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
• SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

Please, be sure that you have the mandatory prerequisites:

• For SQL Server 2005
  • Install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2
  • Install Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DTS Designer Components
• For SQL Server 2008
  • Install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components
  • Update all the reports to SQL Server 2008. For that, open it all with the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio 2008. The RDL’s files are stored in: %commerce_server_root%\RDLs

Now it’s time to unpup the ressource file for the data warehouse (the file takes place in %commerce_server_root%\Pup Packages\DW.pup). This ressource will create the database which will be the cube’s data source.

Beware: if you install your data warehouse in another language than english you must change the file %commerce_server_root%\Data\CommerceOlap.xmla  line 9679 and replace the “Everyone” string by “Tout le monde” for the french environment.

<Roles>
  <Role>
    <ID>All Users</ID>
    <Name>All Users</Name>
    <Members>
      <Member>
        <Name _loc="locData">EveryoneTout le monde</Name>
      </Member>
    </Members>
  </Role>
</Roles>

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