Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Generations and Levels
Although the previous member descriptor definitions are very important, you will find
that as you gain more experience, the use of the generation and level descriptors are by
far the most commonly used and the most useful method of referring where a member
is in the database outline. This is true for loading, calculating, and retrieving data.
Generation
The term Generation refers to the location of a member in a dimension relative to the
root member. The upper-most generation is the outline itself which is
Generation 0
.
Consider
Generation 0
as the parent of the data dimensions. The root members are
the actual dimensions and are called
Generation 1
.
The Generation approach to traversing your database outline is a
top-down approach. For example,
Generation 1
is the highest
level or the root level and the
Generation 2
would be the next
level down towards the leaf node or member which is the bottom
member of the dimension.
Just like a family tree, the next level down in the outline from the
Year
level
(the
Quarter
level) is
Generation 2
in this example.
In the example below,
YEAR
is
Generation 1
(also called
GEN 1
), and
Quarter 1,
Quarter 2, Quarter 3
and
Quarter 4
are
Generation 2
(
GEN 2
) whereas
JAN,
FEB, MAR, APR
, and so on, are
Generation 3
.
GENERATION 1 Year
GENERATION 2
9
Quarter 1
GENERATION 3
9
JAN
GENERATION 3
9
FEB
GENERATION 3
9
MAR
GENERATION 2
9
QUARTER 2
GENERATION 3
9
APR
GENERATION 3
9
MAY
GENERATION 3
9
JUN
GENERATION 2
9
QUARTER 3
GENERATION 3
9
JUL
GENERATION 3
9
AUG
GENERATION 3
9
SEP
GENERATION 2
9
QUARTER 4
GENERATION 3
9
OCT
GENERATION 3
9
NOV
GENERATION 3
9
DEC
