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With this construction mode, you express the dimension hierarchy in the Data Sources through the relationship(s) between the nodes (or categories) that the edges describe.

In this mode, to define a dimension, you must declare which fields represent the source and target (or parent and child) of the edges in each one of the relationships.

Given the double role that any of the nodes can play in the parent-child relationship, it is clear that both fields must belong to the same element class. However, in those cases in which a certain relationship represents only one level of the hierarchy, this is not necessary as the children values will never be parents.

Example

In the following example, the entire hierarchy is defined through one relationship.

Parent

Child

Root

GR1

Root

GR2

GR1

GR11

GR1

GR12

GR1

GR13

GR2

GR21

GR2

GR22

GR12

GR121

...

...

Another example of this is the organization chart of a company, formed by Positions (Area Managers, Team Leaders, etc.) which are in determined relationships of "dependency" to one another. For example, the VP of Sales post is related to the Sales Manager post, which is related to the Salesperson position.
On the other hand, there is a relationship linking each position on the chart to a particular person, with other properties.


You can represent this by adding a field to the relationships table, where the Position code is the Source, and the field identifying the person is the Target.

Manager

Subordinate

General Manager

Marketing Manager

General Manager

Operations Manager

General Manager

Sales Manager

Marketing Manager

Marketing Assistant

Marketing Manager

Product Managers

Operations Manager

Assistant

Operations Manager

Accountant

Sales Manager

Vendors

...

...

Employee

Position

Jeremy Parker

General Manager

Andrew Stewart

Marketing Manager

Wally Brian

Operations Manager

Ken Denny

Sales Manager

June Miyamoto

Marketing Assistant

William Gottes

Product Managers

Kristie Reeves

Assistant

Chris Fabri

Accountant

...

...

In the previous example, the edges are defined by two Data Sources relationships. The first relationship, because the nodes can play both roles, is between a Source and Target from the same element class (Positions).

In the second relationship, only one hierarchy level links people to their post. It is important to note that the relationship between the Target of a relationship and the source of the following one is implicitly made by O3.

The image on the left shows the structure of the dimension once built in the datamart.



Adding an Edge Dimension

Use the Add Dimension command or the Insert Dimension command to add a dimension in edges construction mode.

To add a dimension in edges construction mode

  1. Select the Dimension branch in the Design tree.
  2. Add a new Dimension
  3. Turn on the Edges radio button
  4. Complete the fields in the Property Pane.
  5. To add a field to the Relationships table, choose the New Field button.
    A new row is added.
  6. Double-click on each field in the row to select the value from a list.
  7. To remove a field from the Relationships table, click on the row, Choose the Delete Field button.
    The field is deleted.


The Dimension Property Pane - Edges Construction Mode

In Edges construccion mode, the dimension property pane includes these tabs:

The Description Tab

Property

Description

Name

Enter the name of the dimension.

Description

Enter a description of the dimension.

The General Tab

Property

Description

Mode

Choose the Edges construction mode. Once you define relationships between the nodes, you cannot modify this value.

Default Value for Null Fields

Enter the label of the special node created to accumulate the registers in cases where data from the Measures Data Source has null values in the identification of this dimension key, or out of range values for the hierarchy category.

Store Dimensions As

For every dimension you can select any of this options to store the elements of the dimension. To select one you must know how many total elements (for all levels) the dimension will have.

  • Byte (8 bits)max 256 elements
  • Short (16 bits)max aprox. 65.000 elements (should be enough for most dimensions)
  • Integer (32 bits)max aprox 4 billion elements.

Related Dimension

Links a dimension with another with the same structure and similar information. (See Related Dimensions)

Estimated Levels

Enter the number of levels the edge dimension will have when the cube is built. The number of levels for each dimension is required to define the scope for the measures, but may not be known at design time.

Relationships Table

Specify the different relationships defining the hierarchies in this table.
You must declare the fields of the Data Sources defining the Source and the Target.
You can also declare description fields to be used as labels for the O3 Browser instead of using the codes. The description fields must be related to the codes, either as a consequence of both fields coming from the same source, or through implicit joins made by O3 based on the similarity of the names. See About Field Naming.
Use the New Field button to add a relationship immediately after the last available one. Use the Delete Field button to remove a relationship.
It is important to remember that the association between the Target of a certain relationship and the Source of the one immediately following is made automatically by O3.

The Order Tab

This section refers to a mechanism that activates rankings from O3 Designer during the design phase of the model.

(info) See Automatic Rankings

Property

Description

Activate Order

Activates the automatic ranking of elements in the dimension.

All Elements

Indicates that all elements will be displayed after sorting

First

Indicates that only the first N elements will be displayed after sorting.

Show Others

In cases when only a few elements are shown, it is possible to include an extra element, called Others, that summarizes those left out of the view.

This feature does not imply the sorting of elements in the hierarchy. This is just a presentation feature. To sort elements in the dimension see the sorting options in the properties pane for dimension levels in standard dimensions

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