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The database outline defines the structure of the database. Outline Editor displays the dimension hierarchy of an outline visually. This chapter explains how to create and manage an Analytic Services database outline. All examples in this chapter are based on the Sample Basic database shipped with Analytic Services.
Note: The information in this chapter is designed for block storage databases. Some of the information is not relevant to aggregate storage databases. For detailed information on the differences between aggregate and block storage, see Comparison of Aggregate and Block Storage. For information on creating aggregate storage applications, see Aggregate Storage Applications, Databases, and Outlines.
This chapter contains the following sections:
You can also change outlines using data sources and rules files. For more information, see Understanding Data Loading and Dimension Building.
For basic information about outlines, see Understanding Multidimensional Databases.
For information on setting properties in an outline, see Setting Dimension and Member Properties.
This section provides an overview of creating outlines using Outline Editor. For more information about outlines, see Dimensions and Members. To learn how to use Outline Editor, see "About Outline Editor" and "Customizing Outline Viewer and Outline Editor" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
To create an outline, follow these steps:
When a database is created, Analytic Services creates an outline for that database automatically. The outline has the same name as the database (dbname
.otl
) and is stored in the database directory on Analytic Server. You can create content in the new outline in the following ways:
In Administration Services, you can open an existing outline in edit mode (using Outline Editor) or in read-only mode (using Outline Viewer). Outlines opened in edit mode consume more memory on the Administration Server than outlines opened in read-only mode. For more information, see "Opening and Editing Outlines" in Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
When you open an outline in Outline Editor, you can view and manipulate the dimensions and members graphically. An outline is always locked when it is opened in edit mode. If you have Supervisor permissions, you can unlock a locked outline. For more information, see "Locking and Unlocking Outlines" in Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
Caution: If you open the same outline with two instances of the Administration Services Console using the same login ID, each save overwrites the changes of the other instance. Because it can be difficult to keep track of what changes are saved or overwritten, Hyperion does not recommend this practice.
To create a new outline or open an existing outline, use any of the following methods:
Tool |
Topic |
Location |
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To copy an existing outline, use any of the following methods:
Tool |
Topic |
Location |
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In Outline Editor, an outline is always locked when it is opened in edit mode. Analytic Services unlocks the outline when the outline is closed. When an outline is locked, Analytic Services does not allow other users to save over, rename, delete, or edit the outline. When you attempt to edit a locked outline, you are given an option to view the outline in Outline Viewer. For more information about Outline Editor and Outline Viewer, see Creating and Editing Outlines.
If you have Supervisor permissions, you can unlock a locked outline. Before you forcefully unlock a locked outline, make sure that no one else is working with it.
Note: Analytic Services uses a different process for locking and unlocking outlines than for other database objects. For more information about object locking, see Locking and Unlocking Objects.
To unlock an outline, use any of the following methods:
Tool |
Topic |
Location |
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After you create an outline, you can add dimensions and member hierarchies to the outline manually using Outline Editor or with a data source and rules file using Data Prep Editor.
Be sure to consult Understanding the Rules for Naming Dimensions and Members before naming dimensions and members.
To add dimensions and members to an outline using Outline Editor, see "Adding Dimensions to Outlines" and "Adding Members to Dimensions" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
To add dimensions and members to an outline using Data Prep Editor, see "Creating a Dimension Build Rules File" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
To add dimensions and members dynamically (using a rules file) from Outline Editor, see "Updating an Outline Dynamically Using a Rules File" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
When naming dimensions, members, and aliases in the database outline, follow these rules:
"
(quotation marks) or tabs anywhere in a name.Note: If you enable Dynamic Time Series members, do not use the associated generation names-History, Year, Season, Period, Quarter, Month, Week, or Day. See Applying Predefined Generation Names to Dynamic Time Series Members.
When you create new dimensions and save an outline, Analytic Services automatically sets the new dimensions in the outline as sparse. You can change the dimension storage type according to the optimal configuration for the database.
For information about choosing dense or sparse storage, see Selection of Sparse and Dense Dimensions. You must set a standard dimension with which you plan to associate an attribute dimension as sparse.
To set data storage properties using Outline Editor, see "Setting Dimensions as Dense or Sparse" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
Dimensions are the highest level of organization in an outline. Dimensions contain members. You can nest members inside of other members in a hierarchy. For more information on dimensions and members, see Dimensions and Members.
The following sections describe how to position dimensions and members in the outline:
Note: The relative locations of dimensions in an outline can affect calculation and retrieval performance times. See Designing an Outline to Optimize Performance.
After you create dimensions and members, you can rearrange them within the outline. Before moving members and dimensions in an outline consider the following information:
To position dimensions and members using Outline Editor, see "Manipulating Dimensions and Members in an Outline" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
You can have Analytic Services arrange dimensions within an outline or members within a dimension in alphabetical order (A to Z) or reverse alphabetical order (Z to A). For a list of consequences of sorting dimensions and members, see Moving Dimensions and Members.
When you sort level 0 members of numeric attribute dimensions in outlines, the members are sorted by their values. For example, Figure 47 shows text and numeric versions of the Sizes attribute dimension after sorting the members in ascending order. The members of the numeric attribute dimension are sequenced by the numeric values of the members; the member 8 is before the other members. In the text attribute dimension, because the characters are sorted left to right, the member 8 is after the member 24.
Figure 47: Sorting Numeric Versus Text Attribute Dimension in Ascending Order
You cannot sort Boolean attribute dimensions. For more information about attribute dimension types, see Understanding Attribute Types.
To sort members using Outline Editor, see "Sorting Members" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
You can verify an outline automatically when you save it or you can verify the outline manually at any time. When verifying an outline, Analytic Services checks the following items:
During outline verify, Analytic Services also performs the following conversions to appropriate numeric attribute dimension member names and displays them in the outline:
For more information about numeric attribute dimensions, see Understanding Attribute Types.
To verify an outline, see "Verifying Outlines" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
You can save outlines to the Analytic Server or to a client computer or network. By default, Analytic Services saves outlines to the database directory on Analytic Server. If you are saving changes to an existing outline, Analytic Services may restructure the outline. For example, if you change a member name from Market to Region, Analytic Services moves data stored in reference to Market to Region. Each time that you save an outline, Analytic Services verifies the outline to make sure that it is correct.
To save an outline, see "Saving Outlines" in the Essbase Administration Services Online Help.
For more information about adding or deleting members before saving an outline, see the following sections:
If you add one or more new standard (non-attribute) dimensions, then any data that existed previously in the database must be mapped to a member of each new dimension. For example, adding a dimension called Channel to the Sample Basic outline implies that all previous data in Sample Basic is associated with a particular channel or the sum of all channels.
If you add one or more new standard dimensions and then attempt to save the outline, Analytic Services prompts you to associate data of previously existing dimensions to one member of each new dimension.
If you delete one or more standard (non-attribute) dimensions, the data associated with only one member of each deleted dimension can be retained. For example, removing a dimension called Market from the outline implies that all of the data that remains in the database after the restructure operation is associated with a single, specified member of the Market dimension.
If you delete one or more dimensions and then attempt to save the outline, Analytic Services prompts you to select a member of the deleted dimension whose data values will be retained and associated with the members of the other dimensions.
If you delete an attribute dimension, Analytic Services deletes the associations to its base dimension. See Working with Attributes.
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