Create Dimensions with Parent-Child Hierarchies

The key elements that you must define for a parent-child hierarchy are the identifier columns for the member and the parent of the member.

This basic principle applies to all parent-child hierarchies, regardless of the data source that the hierarchy is derived from.

Parent-child hierarchies based on relational tables must have an accompanying parent-child relationship table. See About Parent-Child Relationship Tables and Define Parent-Child Relationship Tables.

In the Semantic Model pane, click Logical Layer, then double-click on any logical dimension table to view their primary keys and the other columns in the table.

  1. On your home page, click Navigator Navigator icon and then click Semantic Models.
  2. In the Semantic Models page, click a semantic model to open it.
  3. Click Logical Layer Logical layer icon, click Create Create icon, and then select Create Logical Table.
  4. In Create Logical Table, enter a name in the Name field.
  5. In the Type field, select Dimension.
  6. In the Business Model field, select a business model. Click OK.
  7. In the Logical Table's tabs, click Sources and add a table source in one of the following ways:
    • Click Add Physical Table, and then select Add Physical Table to select a physical table source.
    • Click Create Logical Table Source to create and add a new logical table source.
  8. In the Logical Table's tabs, click Hierarchy, click the Hierarchy Type field and select Parent-Child.
  9. Scroll to the Relationship Table field, click Select and choose a physical table.
  10. Go to the Member Key, Display Key, and Parent Key fields and select columns.
  11. Click Save.

If the logical table is from a relational table source, you must continue the dimension definition process by setting up the parent-child relationship table for the hierarchy.