Dimension attributes - Dont want to see attributes in a hierarchy when reporting on them

  • Hi,

    Im just basically looking for someone to say that Im on the right track.

    I have a cube at the lowest level of data For example a business question is Is this child a special education needs child in 2008 1 yes. NULL for no.

    I have a demographics dimension Firstname, Middlename, Surname, DOB, Gender etc.

    Now as far as Im aware these are absoloutely fine in a dimension even though I dont want to use them in a hierarchy, They are just attributes.

    A user might want to just grab all this information and add it to a low level report.

    For Example Children In School A who are SEN in Academic year 2008

    Fname Mname Sname DOB Gender SEN Child

    Sarah Anne Smith 01/01/2000 Female 1

    Mark John Allan 01/05/2002 Male 1

    James John Gold 01/12/2001 Male 1

    Lucy K Marriott 01/09/2003 Female 1

    Because my cube is at the lowest level this is OK isnt it?

    My one problem is when the user creates a report and adds the data to a table (Very simple)

    The attributes are added as groups in a hierarchy so

    Fname

    Middlename

    Surname

    DOB

    Gender

    I was hoping that because the attributes are all set under the key they shouldnt do this. Now Im wondering if Im understanding the process at all. Can you use cubes for this level of data or am I completely on the wrong track

    Thanks in advance for any help on this

    Debbie

  • Not sure I understand the problem with users / report / table, but, it seems that you have appropriately defined the level of granularity in your cube.

    If you simply browse the cube, does it do what you want??

    I'm tempted to point you in the direction of the reports being made. I don't think a "flattened" record would generally throw itself into a hierarchy without a nudge from a tool/user.

    I think you are on the right track. Brighter minds will no doubt be along shortly 😀

  • Thankyou X100. It actually looks great in Report buildre, it shows all the columns on the same level so Im happy.

    I had someone come accross last week saying that they didnt think that demographics information was dimensional data and for a second there I lost my confidence.

    My cube can be used right at pupil level up to the top level for a dashboard.

    I can relas a little bit now 🙂

    Debbie

  • If you were compiling census data, then, sure, maybe demo data goes in the fact table, but it seems to me that you are using it to filter, in which case, dim it up!

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