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Build a database

Owned by Denise McGettigan
Last updated: Dec 03, 2023
4 min read

You can build a database from two locations in Phocas: in Designer and on the Databases page. The Databases page is suitable when you need to build locked databases, which you do not have permission to open in Designer.

In both locations, you have the option to build the database now or schedule a build to occur later at regular intervals. The following schedule frequency options are available:

  • Based on Sync:

    • After sync of any source used in this design.

    • After sync of all selected sources. This option allows you to select specific sync sources.

  • Based on a specified interval:

    • Hourly

    • Daily (specify timezone and time).

    • Weekly (specify timezone, day of week and time).

    • Monthly (specify timezone, first or last day and time).

Build a database via Designer

Open the database in Designer and click the Build tab.

Then select the applicable build method:

  • Build now: Click Build. As shown in the image above, a progress bar displays the status of the build, which turns green when the build is complete, and the Logs section underneath displays the details of the build. Click Open to exit Designer and view your database in Phocas. 

  • Schedule a build: Click Schedule, select the build frequency and configure the settings as required, then click Save. The Schedule button turns orange to indicate a schedule has been set.

Build a database via the Databases page

In the Phocas menu, click Administration > Databases, select the database(s) you want to build, then select the applicable build method:

  • Build now: Click Build. The Status column displays the status of the build, which says Available (in green) when the build is complete.

  • Schedule a build: Click More > Schedule, select the build frequency and configure the settings as required, then click Save. The Schedule column displays the schedule frequency.

Sleep (pause) builds

You can sleep database builds during specified hours, such as at night or the weekend. Accessing the database for analysis purposes during sleep times is unaffected - users can analyze the data based on the last available build.

In the image below, despite the Hourly frequency, the database will not build between 8pm and 6am the following day.  

Cancel a build

There might be a situation where you need to cancel a build, for example, if you change your mind about the design after the build has started, you realize you made a mistake, or if the build seems to be hanging.

Open the database in Designer, then on the Build tab, click Cancel. You get a message advising you that the build is being canceled. It might take a while to complete the cancellation process. When the build is canceled, the status bar turns red and displays the progress stage the build was at when it was canceled.

Set an alert on build failure

To receive an email alert if a build fails, go to your personal settings and select Build failures under Email notifications.

Troubleshooting: Validation errors during build

Design errors

If there are errors in your database design, a Validation Error window will display after you click Build. You need to correct any errors before the build can be queued. Examples of errors include:

  • Unmapped dimensions

  • Duplicate names of streams, dimensions, properties and measures

  • Property titles containing reserved words: "code", "date".

  • Expressions in calculated measures containing reserved characters: \, @, !, ?, ~, |

Errors in raw data

If there are errors in your raw data (for example, cells containing unclean data, such as an invalid date format) the database build will exclude the affected data from the build, and list this in the build log as a Warning. The excluded data could be a whole line or just a cell.

Click the link under Detail to display more information about the error.