Dimensions represent the core components of a business plan and often relate to business functions. Product, Region, and Year are typical dimensions. In most databases, dimensions are static, rarely changing over the life of the application.
A member is an individual component of a dimension. For example, Product A, Product B, and Product C might be members of the Product dimension. Each member has a unique name. A dimension can contain an unlimited number of members.
In some dimensions, members change frequently over the life of the application. Simultaneously, members can be parents of some members and children of other members. The Essbase outline indents members below one another to indicate a consolidation relationship. For example, sales totals for the Products dimension might be totaled by product description, broken down by product code, and further broken down by product ID.
To access the member properties tabs, see Accessing the Member Properties Tabs.