Essbase creates a data block for each unique combination of sparse dimension members, provided that at least one data value exists for the combination. Each data block represents all dense dimension member values for that unique combination of sparse dimension members.
For example, in the Sample.Basic database, the Market and Product dimensions are sparse. Therefore, the data block New York -> Colas represents all the member values on the Year, Measures, and Scenario dimensions for the sparse combination New York -> Colas.
These sections assume that you are familiar with the concepts of upper-level, level 0, and input data blocks. See Data Storage in Data Blocks.