View and Edit Outline Properties for a Newly Created Cube

Outline properties, in part, control the functionality available in an Essbase cube, but they also control member naming and member formatting for attribute dimensions, alias tables and text measures.

Log into the web interface as a power user.
On the Applications page, click Create to create a new application.
Give the application a unique name.
Name the cube.
(Optional) Click Advanced Options to select a database type, allow duplicate member names, or enable scenarios.
Click OK.
On the Applications page, expand the new application.
From the Actions menu, to the right of the cube name, select Outline.
Click Edit outline.
Click Outline Properties.

Work with General and Attribute-related Outline Properties

Outline properties-General tab shows what outline features are enabled for your cube and how they are formatted. Some fields on this tab can be changed and others cannot be changed and are for your information.

Table 11-1 General Outline Properties

Field	Description	View or Edit
Allow Duplicate Member Names	Enabling a cube for duplicate member names is an option when a new application is created. If you migrate an on-premises Essbase application with a unique member outline to an Essbase instance, you cannot change the outline to allow duplicate members. To allow duplicate member names in your Essbase instance, convert the on-premises unique member outline to a duplicate member outline before migrating the application.	This field cannot be changed and is for your information.
Typed Measures Enabled	All Essbase applications are enabled for typed measures by default.	If typed measures is disabled and you want to enable it, select True. If typed measures is enabled, you cannot change the setting and this field is for your information.
Date Format	You can change the date format if you plan to use typed measures that are dates.	Use the dropdown list to select the date format that will be displayed when you query text measures that are dates.
Auto configure dimension storage type	When "Auto configure dimension storage type" is enabled, the dimensions are set to dense or sparse automatically. When using this option, there is a limit of twenty four dimensions. This setting applies to block storage cubes only.	If auto configure is disabled and you want to enable it, select True. If auto configure is enabled and you want to disable it, select False.

Table 11-2 Attribute Settings – Prefix and Suffix Format

Field	Description	View or Edit
Value	A prefix or suffix may be required for your attribute member names to support member name uniqueness. Prefix or suffix values display when attribute dimension members are included in a query.	To enable prefix or suffix values for your cube, make a selection in the Value drop-down menu. The default value of None disables all prefix or suffix options.
Format	You can define unique names by attaching a prefix or suffix to member names in Boolean, date, and numeric attribute dimensions in the outline.	After selecting a prefix or suffix Value, such as Parent, you can select the format.
Separator	Select a separator (to place between the prefix or suffix and the original name).	Options are underscore ( _ ), pipe ( \| ), or caret ( ^ ).

Table 11-3 Boolean, Date and Numeric

Field	Description	View or Edit
True Member Name	Although your cube can contain more than one Boolean attribute dimension, all Boolean attribute dimensions will share the same value for True Member Name and False Member Name. By default, Essbase assigns member names of True and False. If you want to change these names, you must change them before you add the first Boolean attribute to your cube. Once the first Boolean attribute dimension is created, you cannot change these names.	This field can only be changed before you add the first Boolean attribute dimension to your cube.
False Member Name	Although your cube can contain more than one Boolean attribute dimension, all Boolean attribute dimensions will share the same value for True Member Name and False Member Name. By default, Essbase assigns member names of True and False. If you want to change these names, you must change them before you add the first Boolean attribute to your cube. Once the first Boolean attribute dimension is created, you cannot change these names.	This field can only be changed before you add the first Boolean attribute dimension to your cube.
Date Member Names	You can change the format of members of date attribute dimensions.	Select Month First or Day First formatting convention for Date Member Names.
Numeric Range	Members of numeric attribute dimensions can be defined in dimension build rules to represent date ranges. Here, you can define these ranges to be Top or Bottom of Ranges. All numeric attribute dimensions built using ranges will have the same numeric range setting.	Options are Tops of Ranges and Bottoms of Ranges.

Table 11-4 Calculation Dimension Names

Field	Description	View or Edit
Name	Every Essbase cube containing attribute dimensions contains a dimension containing standard math functions that can be applied to attribute queries. You can edit the name of this dimension, and the name of each standard math function. You cannot change which math functions are automatically calculated.	Type a name for the attribute calculations dimension, if you want to change it.
Sum Member	This is a member of the attribute calculations dimension. The name to use when requesting sum data.	Type a name for the Sum member in the attribute calculations dimension, if you want to change it.
Count Member	This is a member of the attribute calculations dimension. The name to use when requesting count data.	Type a name for the Count member in the attribute calculations dimension, if you want to change it.
Minimum Member	This is a member of the attribute calculations dimension. The name to use when requesting minimum data.	Type a name for the Minimum member in the attribute calculations dimension, if you want to change it.
Maximum Member	This is a member of the attribute calculations dimension. The name to use when requesting maximum data.	Type a name for the Maximum member in the attribute calculations dimension, if you want to change it.
Average Member	This is a member of the attribute calculations dimension. The name to use when requesting average data.	Type a name for the Average member in the attribute calculations dimension, if you want to change it.

Understand and Create Alias Tables

Aliases are stored in one or more tables as part of a database outline. An alias table maps a specific, named set of alias names to member names.

To create an alias table:

On the Applications page, expand the application.
Click the Actions menu to the right of the cube name and click Outline.
Click Edit.
Click Outline Properties.
Select the Aliases tab.
Enter the name of the alias table you want to create and click Add.
You can have a maximum of 56 alias tables.
Click Apply and Close.

See Create Aliases and Setting Aliases.

You cannot delete or rename the default alias table.

Understand and Work With Dynamic Time Series Outline Properties

To dynamically calculate period-to-date values, you can enable dynamic-time-series members for an outline. You must also associate the dynamic time series member with a generation member.

You use the Dynamic Time Series tab in the Outline Properties dialog box to enable and disable dynamic time series members, to associate dynamic time series members with generations, and to specify aliases for dynamic time series members.

The Series column lists the eight system-defined dynamic time series members. See Using Dynamic Time Series Members:

H-T-D (history-to-date)
Y-T-D (year-to-date)
S-T-D (season-to-date)
P-T-D (period-to-date)
Q-T-D (quarter-to-date)
M-T-D (month-to-date)
W-T-D (week-to-date)
D-T-D (day-to-date)

To enable dynamic time series members:

On the Applications page, expand the application.
Click the Actions menu to the right of the cube name and click Outline.
Click Edit.
To view outline properties, simply click Outline Properties. You don't need to click Edit first.
Click Outline Properties.
Click Dynamic Time Series.
Select or clear items in the Enabled column to enable or disable the member associated with the option.
In the Generation column, select a generation number.
You cannot associate dynamic time series members with level 0 members of the time dimension, and you should not assign a generation number to multiple members.
(Optional) In the Default column, in the member row, enter one or more aliases (one each from one or more alias tables).

Understand and Create Textual Measures

Text measures extend the analytical capabilities of Essbase beyond numerical data to text-based content.

For example, assume that a user is to provide an input indicating risk assessment. It might be preferable to select from a list of strings: low, medium, high. To accomplish this in Essbase, you would create a text list object in the outline properties, and use it to assign the appropriate strings to numeric values stored in the database.

For information about creating text measures in Essbase, see Working with Text Measures.

To experiment with implementing text measures from an application workbook, follow the instructions in Text Measures Workflow, under Text Measures Workflow using Application Workbooks.