How to automate the updating of a dimension - both members and properties

Question

I need to automate the updqating of one of my dimensions in BPC 5.1 using SSIS.  I've tried the "Admin_Makedim.dtsx" that comes with the system.  It completes succesfully, but nothing is actually changed or updated in the dimension. 
Has anyone sucessfully used this package?  If so, does it recognize (and handle) changes to properties of existing dimension members?

Answer 1

I created an SSIS package that performs most of what you're looking for, including updating the XLS file.  Please note, that the entire table must be updated.  There is no way that I know of yet on how to update incrementally.
Below is the documentation I created for the package (pictures are omitted by the blog).
I will email you a copy of the package and the full documentation as well.
*APPENDIX 10 REQUIRED EXCEL INPUT FILE*
Contents
Meta data (or master data) can be updated automatically thru a daily batch job.  A sample of the Excel file is below.  It contains all the properties defined for that dimension.  In addition, four additional system processed columns needs to be populated if this file is updated from the back-end.  They are:
Calc – (Y/N) Is the member a calculated field?  This includes all parent members which are calculated by aggregating their children.
DimCalc – (Y/N) Is the member a dimension calculation field? These are members that are represented by formulas, rather than entered, fed or aggregated.
IsBaseMem – (Y/N) Is the member a Base Member, a field that is entered in manually or fed in at the lowest level of the hierarchy?
Hir – Which hierarchies does the member belong to?  If the member belongs to multiple hierarchies, then they are listed with semicolons.  For example, a member belonging to both Parent H1 and Parent H2, would have this field filled in as:  H1;H2
Location
The Excel file is located at:
C:\BPC\Data\Webfolders\[Application Name]\AdminApp\[Dimension Name].xls
When the Excel file is to be replaced, the new one should be placed and named at:
C:\BPC\Data\Webfolders\[Application Name]\AdminApp\[Dimension Name]_Update.xls
SSIS PACKAGE
Each dimension that is to be updated from the back end will have its own SSIS package for executing a back end update.
Variables
The package, one for each Dimension, has just four variables to configure
AppSet – the name of the Application Set, such as Finance
DimensionName – the name of the Dimension, such as IntCo
InstallDirectory – the directory in which BPC was installed up to the Webfolders directory, such as  C:\BPC\Data\Webfolders\
User_Server – the fully qualified user that will be executing the package, such as DCC\osoftadmin
These four variables can be set rather simply within the corresponding configuration file (*.dtsConfig), or hard coded within the SSIS file itself.
Column Mappings
The package manually requires the columns between the Excel table and the internal BPC ‘mbr’ table be mapped to each other.  This is a rather simple click-and-drag, because the column names between the two should match.  Modifications to these mapping are only necessary when the properties are modified.
SSIS TASK FLOW
The SSIS package performs the following steps when executed:
•     Backs up the original Excel file with a date stamped copy
•     Replaces the original Excel file with the updated version
•     Clears the corresponding internal BPC ‘mbr’ table
•     Populates the ‘mbr’ table with the values within the updated Excel file
•     Clears the corresponding internal BPC ‘dim’ table
•     Performs a BPC ‘full process’, which populates the ‘dim’ table
Logs
Transaction logs, which specify the success (or failure) of each of the above steps, are recorded and stored at:
C:\BPC\Data\Webfolders\[Application Name]\AdminApp\Logfile\