Data Type Considerations

Aggregate members can have different data types than their child detail members, even though they both display data for the same dimension. When this is the case, you must reconcile the situation if you want to persist aggregates.

For example, suppose the PRODUCTS dimension is mapped to a numeric field in the main record and contains members from this tree:

ALL_PRODUCTS
	Release Less than 8
		<Leaf Range (Low = 0, High= 799)
	Release 8
		<Leaf Range (Low = 800, High= 899)

Notice that the Release 8 member is not totally numeric; instead, it is a string that contains letters and a number. If the detail value 846 is added to the tree, the member 846 (which is numeric) is added to the parent member Release 8 (which is a string). To reconcile this situation, you should persist the aggregates for this dimension to a field with a data type of String and a length of at least 20.

Note:

It is not necessary for the main record's fields to have the same data types as the aggregate record's fields.