A means of organizing and structuring data. A hierarchy exists when values within a dimension are arranged in levels, with each level representing the aggregated total of the data from the level below. Some dimensions have multiple hierarchies based on them.
The following example shows a hierarchy based on the GEOGRAPHY dimension, in which dimension values are arranged in five levels. Data at the Customers level is aggregated into the Cities level, which, in turn, is aggregated into the Countries/Areas, Continents/Regions, and Global levels.