I am currently learning SQL Server 2008 as a business intelligence solution and am currently looking at Analysis Services (and I'm pretty new to business intelligence in general ...)
I am a little confused by some terms in SSAS, especially the conceptual differences between cubes and the unified dimensional model of MS.
I believe that a cube in SSAS is basically an OLAP cube - dimensions, measures, what is between the underlying data source and the business user.
But then I understand that UDM too.
The docs for SQL Server 2005 seem to offer so much:
"The cube is essentially synonymous with the Unified Dimensional Model (UDM)."
But then the SQL Server 2008 pages suggest that UDM is a wrapper for both multidimensional data (cubes) and relational data:
"Use a single dimensional model to provide a single consolidated business view for relational and multidimensional data, including business objects, business logic, calculations, and metrics."
This blog post suggests similarly:
"UDM provides a one-dimensional model for all OLAP analyzes and relational reports. So you can use MDX or SQL."
Is UDM something that sits above cubes? Or is it the same thing? I guess I designed cubes with the Cube Designer app; What would I develop UDM with?