KB16438: Database instances for MDX Cube data sources cannot be selected as a new project's warehouse in the Project Creation Assistant in MicroStrategy Developer 9.4.1 and 10.x

SYMPTOM
A user wishes to create a new project to access an MDX Cube data source in Strategy Developer 9.4.1 and 10.x by performing the following steps:

• The user creates a new metadata shell using the configuration wizard.
• The user creates a database instance to connect to the cube data source.
• The user executes the menu command Schema > Create New Project... and answers the dialog window's prompts to create the new project shell.
• When the project shell is ready, the Project Creation Assistant appears. The next step that is highlighted is to 'Select tables from the Warehouse Catalog' as shown below:
  

• The user clicks the button for this option and is prompted to choose the database instance for the project's warehouse. However, no database instances are available. If there are ODBC database instances, they are shown, but MDX Cube database instances are absent from this menu.
  Note here that the drop-down arrow just above the 'New...' button is disabled. This metadata contains only one Analysis Services database instance.
   
  

CAUSE
This behavior is by design.
 
From the user's perspective, it may appear to be self-evident that the main warehouse for a project whose primary purpose is to connect to SAP BW, Microsoft Analysis Services, or Hyperion Essbase should be the MDX Cube database instance. From the perspective of the Strategy object model, however, this is not the case.
 
In a Strategy project, the 'Warehouse Database Instance' always refers to the ODBC database instance (for a SQL-based database) that will be used for SQL generation and execution of standard Strategy reports.
 
MDX Cube data sources fall in the domain of Extended Data Access, and are separate from the primary project warehouse. A project can have only one warehouse database instance, but it can have several MDX Cube database instances. Even in Project Configuration, is not possible to set an MDX cube database instance as the project's primary warehouse, so it would be inconsistent to allow that type of selection here.
 
The wording of the second stage in the Project Creation Assistant is precise: to 'Select tables from the Warehouse Catalog.' OLAP Cubes are not imported using the Warehouse Catalog, but rather by the OLAP Cube Catalog. So the user should not expect to see OLAP Cube database instances in this dialog, because there are no SQL tables to import from an OLAP Cube provider.
 
ACTION
The correct procedure to create a new project for MDX Cube access is as follows:
 

• Create the database instance for the MDX Cube data source.
• Create the project shell using the menu command Schema > Create New Project.
• When the Project Creation Assistant appears, do not click any of the right-arrow buttons. Instead, click OK, as shown below:
  

• Open the project.
• In the Schema menu, choose the MDX Cube Catalog option, as shown below:
  

• Here, the MDX Cube database instance may be chosen and cubes imported into the metadata;