Adding Levels to a Date Dimension
- Nicolás Palombo (Unlicensed)
Use the Add Level command or the Insert Level command to add a level to a date dimension.
Once you complete the Properties pane for the Date Dimension, you can specify the subsequent hierarchy level of dates, in descending order.
To add a level to the hierarchy, you must be in the Design Tree at the Date branch or at a previously defined date level.
To add a level to a date dimension
- Select the Dimension branch in the Design tree.
- Select the date dimension branch.
- Add a new Level
- To add a level at the end of the list, choose the Add Level command.
The level is added and the Properties Pane is displayed. - To insert a level right after an existing level, select it and choose the Insert Level command.
The level is added and the Properties Pane is displayed.
- To add a level at the end of the list, choose the Add Level command.
- Complete the fields in the Property Pane.
Note
You can also add relative dates to a date dimension.
The Date Level Property Pane
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
Name |
Enter a name for the level. |
Description |
Enter a description of the level. |
Granularity |
Choose a level of detail for the hierarchy's level. Supported granularity levels are: Year, Quarter, Month, Week and Day |
Customize Date Patterns |
It is possible to customize the format used to display date elements. Simply choose a predefined patern or specify one of your own. |
When generating a Cube, all data extracted from sources is grouped for the date dimensions, according to the granularity of the last level selected. The information automatically groups for higher levels of the granularity as well as for other hierarchical relationships.
Example
A Cube for sales analysis, which has a Date Dimension, "Invoices Date", with the last level corresponding to Month, belongs to "Monthly" granularity.
In this example, the invoices are grouped according to their month, generating information only for those months with invoices, and leaving blank those months with no invoices.
All the granularity levels are optional but each must be subordinate to one of preceding granularity level. It is not possible to use for example Quarter above Year or Month above Quarter.
For the Week level of granularity, weeks are identified by numbering them in their order of appearance during a month, e.g., Week 1, Week 2, etc.