SAP BPC - Dimension Properties in General

Dimension properties are categories that are assigned to dimensions. Many of the properties are generic, such as ID and EvDescription, and others can be unique to a dimension. These properties define the behavior of members within the dimension. It is best to have some idea of the properties each dimension requires in the design, but you can build the dimension without defining ALL the properties.

 
They may always be added later in the design process. Based on their assigned type, dimensions are assigned default properties, some of which are required. You can add more properties to further customize your dimension members.  

Hierarchies
It is natural to have hierarchies for dimensions such as entity and time where the need for rollups is common. Hierarchies also allow the use of multiple views from one dimension. For example the entity (such as Store) dimension can be used to view data by company code, plant, or region. Hierarchies are stored as SAP NetWeaver BW Hierarchies.
 

The hierarchy property PARENTH# does not appear as a property via ’maintain dimension properties’ but only as a column in the dimension member sheet. The naming convention is PARENT# where # is the number of the hierarchy such as 1,2, etc. The #’s must be sequential. The property name does not appear to the end user however. Parents are valid members. A member can only be assigned to one parent per hierarchy.


Member id’s
Member id’s can have up to 20 characters. ID’s cannot have spaces or any special characters except ‘.’ and ‘_’. ID’s must be unique per dimension. Descriptions are ( EvDescription ) 60 characters and can have special characters and spaces. However, they cannot contain double quotes.

Repeat, Properties are like any other characteristic in BW, they have a maximum of 60 positions in the data base. However, you can create a property in Business Planning and Consolidation of more than 60 but BW creates it with 60 anyway. Also, BW makes it a display attribute only. Defining the right properties in a dimension support various functions from the user’s interface and make reporting much easier.

In addition, properties are often critical components used to evaluate expressions in advanced script logic and business rules.

Remember, the value you place in a member’s property may be used in an Excel report.