Adding Relative Dates

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Use the Add Relative Date command to add a relative date.

To Add a Relative Date:

Select the Date Dimension branch in the Design tree.
Choose the Add Relative Date command. The Relative Date property pane displays.
Complete the Reference, Compare, Refinement and Simulation pages of the property pane.

Use the Reference page to create the relative date.
Use the Compare page to specify the granularity level of the relative date.
Use the Refinement page to include lower levels of granularity in the hierarchy. This is available only if the granularity of the relative date is Year or Quarter.
Use the Simulation page to specify date ranges for the date lists on the Compare and Refinement pages.
You can also add hierarchical levels of dates to a date dimension.

The Relative Date Property Pane

The property pane for relative dates includes five tabs:

Description
Reference
Compare
Refinement
Simulation

The Description tab

Property	Description
Name	Enter the relative date source name.
Description	Enter a description of the relative date.

The Reference tab

Property

Description

Reference

Turn on the Most Recent Date radio button to use the most recent data entered in the cube from the source data as the reference date.
Turn on the Least Recent Date radio button to use the first date entered in the cube from the source data as the reference date.
Turn on the From Params radio button to use a date specified as a Build Parameter. Choose a parameter from the list. If you select a parameter whose value does not change when new data is added to the cube, you can have a relative date that also does not change.

The Compare tab

Property	Description
Comparison Level	Choose the granularity level; Year, Quarter or Month. The list on the right updates to reflect the selection. It contains all elements corresponding to the selected level of granularity for the specified Simulation data. The relative date is identified in red text. Click on each element in the list you wish to include in the definition. The elements are all relative to the current relative date.
Remove Intermediate Levels	Turn this checkbox on to disable the incorporation of higher granularity levels than the selected comparison level. The first hierarchy level becomes the comparison level. Turn this checkbox off to allow the higher granularity levels. For example, if you choose Month for the granularity of the comparison level, years and quarters are included over the months in the hierarchy.
Enable Refinement	If the comparison level is Year or Quarter, turn this checkbox on to incorporate lower levels of detail to the granularity selected within the hierarchy.

The elements selected in the list for the comparison level are for definition purposes only. They depend on the value of the reference in the actual data, such as the last entered data, to resolve into real data after the cube build.

For example, if you choose Month as the granularity and September 98 as the current month for simulation, you can select September 98, September 97, September 96 and September 95 from the list to create a relative date that compares the current month of the current year to the same month for the three previous years.

If the reference is the most recent date and the latest data is for October 98, the relative date compares October in the years 98, 97, 96, and 95. If you subsequently add data that includes November 98, the relative date then compares November in the years 98, 97, 96, and 95.

The Refinement tab

Property	Description
Refinement Level	If the granularity for comparison is Year or Quarter and you have enabled Refinement, choose a refinement level from the list. You can only refine at lower levels so if you choose Quarter as the comparison granularity, the only available level of refinement is Month.
From Beginning	Turn on the From Beginning radio button to define a set of elements that start with the first element of the comparison level and ends when the user determines.For example, to compare this period to previous years for a year-to-date relative date, define the comparison level as Year and the refinement level as Month. Then turn on the From Beginning radio button and select from the first month of the year to the current month from the elements in the list.
Last N	Turn on the Last N radio button to define a set of N consecutive elements.For example, to have a relative data that compares the last 12 rotating months, select Month as the refinement level, turn on the Last N radio button, and select the last 12 months from the elements in the list.

The Simulation tab

Property	Description
Reference	Choose a month and year for the reference date. The reference date highlights in red text in the element lists. Relative shifts are calculated from this date. The default is the current month and year.During cube building, the actual value is substituted for this value. Depending on the reference, this can be the most recent date, the oldest date, or an assigned date.
From	Choose a month and year for the From date for the element lists. This is the lower end of the range for the simulation elements.
To	Choose a month and year for the To date for the element lists. This is the upper end of the range for the simulation elements.
Preview	Preview the result of the relative date definition using the simulation data.

Use the dates in the Simulation page to display simulation data in the Compare and Refinement element lists.

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