When you use the attribute feature, Essbase establishes some default member names;
for example, the system-defined True and False would preclude other member names of True and False. You can change these system-defined names for the database. Date attributes and numeric attributes can also be duplicated. To avoid duplicate name confusion, you can establish settings for qualifying member names in attribute
dimensions The outline does not show the fully qualified attribute names, but you can see the full attribute names anywhere you select specific members, such as when you define partitions or select information to be retrieved.
Define the member name settings before you define or build the attribute dimensions.
Changing the settings after the attribute dimensions and members are defined could result in invalid member names.
The following sections describe how to work with the names of members of attribute dimensions:
• Setting Prefix and Suffix Formats for Member Names of Attribute Dimensions
• Setting Boolean Attribute Member Names
• Changing the Member Names in Date Attribute Dimensions
• Setting Up Member Names Representing Ranges of Values
• Changing the Member Names of the Attribute Calculations Dimension Note:
If you partition on outlines containing attribute dimensions, the name format settings of members described in this section must be identical in the source and target outlines.
Setting Prefix and Suffix Formats for Member Names of Attribute Dimensions
The information in this section does not apply to duplicate member attribute dimensions.
The names of members of Boolean, date, and numeric attribute dimensions are values. It is possible to encounter duplicate attribute values in different attribute dimensions.
• Boolean example
If you have more than one Boolean attribute dimension in an outline, the two members of each of those dimensions have the same names, by default, True and False.
• Date example
If you have more than one date attribute dimension, some member names in both dimensions could be the same. For example, the date that a store opens in a certain market could be the same as the date a product was introduced.
• Numeric example
12 can be the attribute value for the size of a product and 12 could also be the value for the number of packing units for a product. This example results in two members with the same name—12.
You can define unique names by attaching a prefix or suffix to member names in
Boolean, date, and numeric attribute dimensions in the outline. As the prefix or suffix you can choose to affix the dimension, parent, grandparent, or all ancestors to the attribute name. For example, by setting member names of attribute dimensions to include the dimension name as the suffix, attached by an underscore, the member value 12 in the Ounces attribute dimension assumes the unique, full attribute member name,
12_Ounces.
By default, Essbase assumes that no prefix or suffix is attached to the names of members of attribute dimensions.
The convention that you select applies to the level 0 member names of all numeric, Boolean, and date attribute dimensions in the outline. You can define aliases for these names if you wish to display shorter names in retrievals.
To define prefix and suffix formats, see “Defining a Prefix or Suffix Format for Members of Attribute Dimensions” in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
Setting Boolean Attribute Member Names
When you set the dimension type of an attribute dimension as Boolean, Essbase automatically creates two level 0 members with the names specified for the Boolean attribute settings. The initial Boolean member names in a database are set as True and False. To change these default names, for example, to Yes and No, define the member names for Boolean attribute dimensions before you create Boolean attribute dimensions in the database.
Before you can set an attribute dimension type as Boolean, you must delete all existing members in the dimension.
To define the database setting for the names of members of Boolean attribute dimensions, see “Setting Member Names for Boolean Attribute Dimensions” in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
Changing the Member Names in Date Attribute Dimensions
You can change the format of members of date attribute dimensions. For example, you can use the following date formats:
• mm-dd-yyyy displays the month before the day; for example, October 18, 2004 is displayed as 10-18-2004.
• dd-mm-yyyy displays the day before the month; for example, October 18, 1999 is displayed as 18-10-2004.
If you change the date member name format, the names of existing members of date attribute dimensions may be invalid. For example, if the 10-18-2004 member exists and you change the format to dd-mm-2004, outline verification will find this member invalid.
If you change the date format, you must rebuild the date attribute dimensions.
To change member names in date attribute dimensions, see “Setting the Member Name Format of Date Attribute Dimensions” in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
Setting Up Member Names Representing Ranges of Values
Members of numeric attribute dimensions can represent single numeric values or ranges of values:
• Single value example: the member 12 in the Ounces attribute dimension represents the single numeric value 12; you associate this attribute with all 12-ounce products. The outline includes a separate member for each size;
for example, 16, 20, and 32.
• Range of values example: the Population attribute dimension, as shown:
Figure 39. Population Attribute Dimension and Members
In this outline, the members of the Population attribute dimension represent ranges of population values in the associated Market dimension. The 3000000 member represents populations from zero through 3,000,000; the 6000000 member represents populations from 3,000,001 through 6,000,000; and so on.
Each range includes values greater than the name of the preceding member up to and including the member value itself. A setting for the outline establishes that each numeric member represents the top of its range.
You can also define this outline setting so that members of numeric attribute dimensions are the bottoms of the ranges that they represent. For example, if numeric members are set to define the bottoms of the ranges, the 3000000 member represents populations from 3,000,000 through 5,999,999 and the 6000000 member represents populations from 6,000,000 through 8,999,999.
When you build the base dimension, Essbase automatically associates members of the base dimension with the appropriate attribute range. For example, if numeric members represent the tops of ranges, Essbase automatically associates the Connecticut market, with a population of 3,269,858, with the 6000000 member of the Population attribute dimension.
In the dimension build rules file, specify the size of the range for each member of the numeric attribute dimension. In the above example, each attribute represents a range of 3,000,000.
To define ranges in numeric attribute dimensions, see “Assigning Member Names to Ranges of Values” in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
Note:
Numeric attribute dimension member names are recommended to contain no more than six decimal positions. Otherwise, because of precision adjustments, an outline may not pass verification.
Changing the Member Names of the Attribute Calculations Dimension To avoid duplicating names in an outline, you may need to change the name of the Attribute Calculations dimension or its members. See Understanding the Attribute Calculations Dimension.
Regardless of the name that you use for a member, its function remains the same. For example, the second (Count) member always counts, no matter what you name it.
To change member names in the Attribute Calculations dimension, see “Changing Member Names of Attribute Calculations Dimensions” in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.