You can use attributes to facilitate grouping, selecting, or calculating data by creating hierarchies and assigning aliases. Attribute names must be unique, and must follow the naming conventions in Naming Restrictions for Dimensions, Members, and Aliases. Attribute data type can include Text, Boolean, Date, Numeric. For detailed information about attributes and attribute values, see the Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide.

You can assign attributes only to sparse dimensions. When sparse dimensions are changed to dense, all attributes and attribute values for the dimension are automatically deleted. You cannot assign attributes to label-only members. Dimensions such as Entity and Product must be associated with Attribute and Alias dimensions to enable assigning attribute values and aliases. Before upgrading Classic Planning applications to Performance Management Architect, you must remove any spaces in the names of attribute dimensions.

If you change or delete attributes, you must update and validate business rules, reports, and data forms. When you delete attributes, all associated attribute values are deleted and removed from custom dimension members to which they are assigned. When using Import Profiles to load attribute values, you must create attribute dimensions before loading. Note, before upgrading applications, you must remove spaces in attribute dimension names.