In my numerous Jedox projects career, I was constantly getting questions related to cube load modes. Although is very well explained in the knowledge base, users frequently asked for clarification. When is a great moment for the update, where for add, and where for delete + insert combination?
It is important to start with the type of load modes for the cube:
- Add – Values from the data source are aggregated and added to the existing values in the cube.
- Insert – Existing values in the cube are overwritten with the values from the data source.
- Create – The existing cube is deleted and created anew with the dimension order as defined in the source.
- Delete- Values from the data source are deleted in the cube.
- Update – The existing cube is emptied; values from the data source are aggregated and written to the cube.
How it practically looks is something which is in the best way explained in the below EXCEL screenshot:
Based on this image you can see that the Red color represents modes that will delete your data. If you need to refresh the whole cube it is ok to use it, but if you need to refresh only a slice UPDATE mode is NOT recommended to use. For refreshing only the slice Delete + Insert or Delete + Add combination is recommended.
Create mode will recreate the whole cube and therefore delete all your historical data. Existing rules are also deleted. The excel file with the mode explanation can be found here.