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MeasureGroupDimension Data Type (ASSL)

Defines an abstract primitive data type that represents the relationship between a dimension and a measure group.

Syntax

<MeasureGroupDimension>
   <CubeDimensionID>...</CubeDimensionID>
      <Annotations>...</Annotations>
   <Source>...</Source>
</MeasureGroupDimension>

Data Type Characteristics

Characteristic

Description

Base data types

None

Derived data types

DataMiningMeasureGroupDimension, DegenerateMeasureGroupDimension, ManyToManyMeasureGroupDimension, ReferenceMeasureGroupDimension, RegularMeasureGroupDimension

Data Type Relationships

Relationship

Element

Parent elements

None

Child elements

Annotations, CubeDimensionID, Source

Derived elements

Dimension (Dimensions collection of MeasureGroup)

Remarks

Each MeasureGroupDimension is a reference to one of the dimensions on the cube. These define which cube dimensions apply to the measure group.

The set of attributes that are provided determines the granularity (scope) at which the measures on the measure group are known. For example, measures that represent product sales are contained in the Sales measure group. Information for these measures is stored in the underlying data source on a monthly, rather than weekly or daily, granularity. In this case, only the Month attribute would be listed for the MeasureGroupDimension that describes the relationship between a time dimension and the Sales measure group. In rare cases, the granularity might be defined in terms of a set of attributes. For example, given the set of attributes {Day, Week, Month, Year}, where Day implies Week and Month, but Week does not imply Month, the measures contained in the Forecasts measure group might be known by Month and Week, but not by Day.

If no attribute is provided, it is as if only the key attribute for the dimension were listed (defining the lowest level of granularity). Each partition of a measure group must have the same granularity. The set of attributes listed should not be redundant with respect to the relationships between attributes. For example, if Month implies Year, the granularity is defined as Month, not Month and Year.

A MeasureGroupDimension needs to include a hierarchy only if it has something specific to indicate about it. (There is no way to select which hierarchies apply to a particular measure group). Similarly, it needs to include a MeasureGroupAttribute only if it has something specific to indicate about it.

Each hierarchy must be a subset of the hierarchies included on the CubeDimension. It is not possible to select the levels, though some levels might automatically be disabled depending upon the granularity of the measure group.

The corresponding element in the Analysis Management Objects (AMO) object model is MeasureGroupDimension.