3 Dimensions of Time hierarchy, but no ALL level?

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3 Dimensions of Time hierarchy, but no ALL level?

Larry Stein

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October 1, 2004 at 10:00 am

#109593

We are experimenting with some dimension changes to see the impact on performance and usability. We have 3 time dimensions in a hierarchy: Time.Calendar, Time.Fiscal, and Time.JustToConfuseUsers. Each user can use whatever calendar is appropriate.
We want to see the performance and usability impact of removing the ALL level from the dimensions. I am not sure what the intended behavior of the cube will be if I remove the level from only 2, or all three dimensions. Assume I do it to all 3. Since the calendars only overlap for some amount of time, what should I see when I browse the cube data? Typically without an all level, the first (alphabetic) dimension member is chosen. So that could mean a default of 2001, which translates to Time.Calendar (1/1/01-12/31/01), Time.Fiscal (7/1/00-6/30/01), and Time.Blech (9/3/00-9/10/01: don't ask! :crazy. Should a cube that includes all these times browse to the intersection of all three (1/1/01-6/30/01)?
When a user issues an MDX query, would they have to specify all the time hierarchies to avoid unintended consequences?
We are going to try some tests, but does anyone know the intended behavior?
Thanks,
Larry
Larry
October 4, 2004 at 8:00 am

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Larry Stein Default port Points: 1447 More actions · Answer 1

I have received the following reasonably definitive response. Oh, well. It was worth a shot...

[Y]ou have hit on an important point about trying this approach. Because you have three separate dimensions that reflect time, if you drill down on one of them without an ALL level for the others, you could soon find yourself in a position where there was no data that satisfied the query because the three time dimension slices are out of synch.

In Yukon you will be able to create true multiple hierarchies on the same dimension. When you say Time.Calendar and Time.Fiscal, they will be different structures in the same time dimension instead of different time dimensions. Then when you drill down on one of the hierarchies the others will be [automatically] "adjusted" so they make sense.

Larry