Custom-Dimensions Table

Custom Dimensions Table

A custom dimensions table defines the dimensions of a transaction. A definition table must be loaded for each dimension that will be used in the model and in the transaction tables. A custom dimensions table contains the following columns:

Position	Name	Maximum Length	Description
1	ID	Char 32	The identifying value for the region; must be unique and match the dimension value fields in all transaction tables
2	L1_Area	Char 32	Top-level dimension member value (for example, EMEA)
3	L2_Country	Char 32	Second-level dimension member value (for example, Great Britain)
4	L3_State	Char 32	Third-level dimension member value (for example, Sussex)
5	L4_City	Char 32	Fourth-level dimension member value (for example, East Sussex)

A custom dimensions table must conform to the following rules:

The first column is the key field.
Subsequent fields are the dimensions in the order in which they appear in the table.
Each column must have the length shown.
The name of the column is arbitrary, but it must be a single word.
The number of columns is arbitrary.

Notes:

When transaction tables in different transaction table groups map to the same custom dimension table, then the column names in the transaction tables must match. Otherwise, the table joins to create the OLAP cube will fail.
Level names must unique across all dimensions. A difference in case does not count as a difference between names.

The following picture shows the mapping from a sample transaction table to different custom dimensions tables:

Channel
Customer
Customer-Type
Product
Region

Custom Dimensions Table

Channel Dimensions Table

Customer Dimensions Table

Customer-Type Dimensions Table

Product Dimensions Table

Region Dimensions Table