Integration Server supports three data types: string, numeric, and datetime. The data type of the source data column containing time-related data does not matter. For example, the date can be a timestamp in a column with a datetime data type, or it can be keyed data in a numeric column (for example, 09232000 or 20000923). A string column can contain dates with or without separating characters such as slashes or periods (for example, 09/23/2000 or 23.09.2000 or 09232000). Portions of the date can be included in the source data as separate string or numeric columns.
The values in time-related columns must map to the time periods you want in the time dimension. If dates are stored as datetime data types and you want quarterly totals, Integration Server can determine the quarter. If dates are stored in numeric or string columns and you want quarterly totals, you must have an explicit column containing the associated quarter for the data that you want to consolidate.