Preparing Data for Time Analysis

If your business requires time-related analysis, include a time dimension in the Oracle Essbase outline. A time dimension includes members for the time periods that you report on; for example, months.

To support a time dimension, the data source should include:

One or more time-related columns associated with measure data.
One or more tables containing user-defined calendars. A user-defined calendar maps the time-related column in the fact table to a specific business calendar.