Query Timeout Expired in SSAS Cube Processing

Question

While migrating a cube from 2008 to 2014, we had a cube processing failure with the message "Query Timeout Expired : HYT00". I looked into the error information and found a certain query executing for more than an hour which is causing the issue. The query is,

SELECT [dbo_IndicatorFact].[PY] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactPY0_0],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[BP] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactBP0_1],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[RE] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactRE0_2],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[UCPY] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactUCPY0_3],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[UCBP] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactUCBP0_4],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[UCRE] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactUCRE0_5],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[GRPY] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactGRPY0_6],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[GRBP] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactGRBP0_7],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[GRRE] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactGRRE0_8],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[NRPY] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactNRPY0_9],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[NRBP] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactNRBP0_10],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[NRRE] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactNRRE0_11],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[GRC2] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactGRC20_12],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[AnalysisCategoryId] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactAnalysisCategoryId0_13],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[IndicatorTypeId] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactIndicatorTypeId0_14],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[IndicatorNameId] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactIndicatorNameId0_15],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[CategoryId] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactCategoryId0_16],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[CountryId] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactCountryId0_17],[dbo_IndicatorFact].[FiscalQuarterId] AS [dbo_IndicatorFactFiscalQuarterId0_18]
 FROM 
  (

  SELECT vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorId AS Id, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN vwIndicatorFact.PY ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.PY WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE vwIndicatorFact.PY END END AS PY, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN vwIndicatorFact.BP ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.BP WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE vwIndicatorFact.BP END END AS BP, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN vwIndicatorFact.RE ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.RE WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE vwIndicatorFact.RE END END AS RE, 
  vwIndicatorFact.BPvsPY, vwIndicatorFact.BPvsPYpercent, vwIndicatorFact.REvsBP, vwIndicatorFact.REvsBPpercent, vwIndicatorFact.REvsPY,
  vwIndicatorFact.REvsPYpercent, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId WHEN 1 THEN 1000000 ELSE IndicatorFact_UC.PY END ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.PY
   WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId WHEN 1 THEN 1000000 ELSE IndicatorFact_UC.PY END END END AS UCPY, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId WHEN 1 THEN 1000000 ELSE IndicatorFact_UC.BP END ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.BP
   WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId WHEN 1 THEN 1000000 ELSE IndicatorFact_UC.BP END END END AS UCBP, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId WHEN 1 THEN 1000000 ELSE IndicatorFact_UC.RE END ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.RE
   WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId WHEN 1 THEN 1000000 ELSE IndicatorFact_UC.RE END END END AS UCRE, vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorNameId, 
  vwIndicatorFact.CategoryId, vwIndicatorFact.AnalysisCategoryId, vwIndicatorFact.CountryId, vwIndicatorFact.FiscalQuarterId, vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId, 
  CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN IndicatorFact_GR.PY ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.PY WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE IndicatorFact_GR.PY END END AS GRPY,
   CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN IndicatorFact_GR.BP ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.BP WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE IndicatorFact_GR.BP END END AS GRBP,
   CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN IndicatorFact_GR.RE ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.RE WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE IndicatorFact_GR.RE END END AS GRRE,
   CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN IndicatorFact_NR.PY ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.PY WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE IndicatorFact_NR.PY END END AS NRPY,
   CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN IndicatorFact_NR.BP ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.BP WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE IndicatorFact_NR.BP END END AS NRBP,
   CASE vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId WHEN 1 THEN IndicatorFact_NR.RE ELSE CASE IndicatorFact_GRC2.RE WHEN 0 THEN 0 ELSE IndicatorFact_NR.RE END END AS NRRE,
   IndicatorFact_GRC2.BP AS GRC2
FROM     
  dbo.vwIndicatorFact INNER JOIN
  dbo.vwIndicatorFact AS IndicatorFact_UC ON vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId = IndicatorFact_UC.IndicatorTypeId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.FiscalQuarterId = IndicatorFact_UC.FiscalQuarterId AND vwIndicatorFact.CountryId = IndicatorFact_UC.CountryId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.CategoryId = IndicatorFact_UC.CategoryId AND IndicatorFact_UC.IndicatorNameId = 1 LEFT OUTER JOIN
  dbo.vwIndicatorFact AS IndicatorFact_GR ON vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId = IndicatorFact_GR.IndicatorTypeId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.FiscalQuarterId = IndicatorFact_GR.FiscalQuarterId AND vwIndicatorFact.CountryId = IndicatorFact_GR.CountryId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.CategoryId = IndicatorFact_GR.CategoryId AND IndicatorFact_GR.IndicatorNameId = 3 AND 
  IndicatorFact_GR.AnalysisCategoryId = vwIndicatorFact.AnalysisCategoryId LEFT OUTER JOIN
  dbo.vwIndicatorFact AS IndicatorFact_NR ON vwIndicatorFact.IndicatorTypeId = IndicatorFact_NR.IndicatorTypeId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.FiscalQuarterId = IndicatorFact_NR.FiscalQuarterId AND vwIndicatorFact.CountryId = IndicatorFact_NR.CountryId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.CategoryId = IndicatorFact_NR.CategoryId AND IndicatorFact_NR.IndicatorNameId = 5 AND 
  IndicatorFact_NR.AnalysisCategoryId = vwIndicatorFact.AnalysisCategoryId LEFT OUTER JOIN
  dbo.vwIndicatorFact AS IndicatorFact_GRC2 ON IndicatorFact_GRC2.IndicatorTypeId = 2 AND vwIndicatorFact.FiscalQuarterId = IndicatorFact_GRC2.FiscalQuarterId AND 
  vwIndicatorFact.CountryId = IndicatorFact_GRC2.CountryId AND vwIndicatorFact.CategoryId = IndicatorFact_GRC2.CategoryId AND 
  IndicatorFact_GRC2.IndicatorNameId = 3 AND IndicatorFact_GRC2.AnalysisCategoryId = 2
   )
   AS [dbo_IndicatorFact]

This is basically multiple self joins on a particular view which contains 300k records. Our dba updated all the indexes and updated the stats, But we are still not able to execute this query quickly. If this query executes quicker, there's a chance that the cube will process quicker. The data in the view also has no inconsistencies. Need some advice on what could be the issue here.

Some background on this - this is part of migration project that we are working on. The old dev environment is able to execute the same query in about 20 seconds with similar number of records in the view. The new dev takes forever to execute the same query with the same view.

Answer 1

In your statement it can be anything: poor indexes, outdated statistics, bad statement, huge data....

I had similar problem and I've increased external command timeout in SSAS(it is 1 hour by default). Look here how to do it if you will not manage to optimize your query:

http://www.msbiguide.com/2013/01/how-to-increase-externalcommandtimeout-in-ssas/