112 IBM Cognos Dynamic Cubes
4.14 Creating a time dimension
Use the following steps to create a time dimension:
1. Select the TIME dimension in the project explorer.
2. Set the Dimension type value in the Property panel to: Time
3. Select the Time hierarchy.
4. Set the Show relative time members value in the property viewer to be true.
5. Select the GO_TIME_DIM table in the Data Source Explorer.
6. Right-click View Data.
7. View the data in the CURRENT_YEAR column. CURRENT_YEAR is the business key of
the Year level of the Time dimension. The values in CURRENT_YEAR will generate
members in the Cognos Dynamic Cube.
8. Choose a year to set as the current period.
9. Select the year level in the Time dimension.
10.Set the level type property to: year
For the other levels, set the level type to match their roles.
11.Click the Current period field in the Property panel.
12.Enter the value that you choose to be the current period. You have now set the current
period value for the year level.
13.View the CURRENT_QUARTER column in the Tabular Data tab.
The data is in the form of 20121, 20122, 20123, and 20124.
14.Decide on the current quarter period that you want.
15.Select the Quarter level in the Time dimension.
16.Click the Current period field in the Property panel.
17.Enter the value that you choose to be the current period.
18.Repeat these steps to determine the current month and current day.
4.15 Modeling for multi-grain scenarios
Use the following steps to model multi-grain scenarios.
1. Launch Cognos Cube Designer.
2. Open the model that you are creating as you progress through this book.
3. Select the TIME dimension in the project explorer.
4. Expand the dimension. It has four levels: Year, Quarter, Month, and day.
5. Select the model namespace.
6. Right-click Create new dimension.
7. Rename it to: Time-Month