Loading Data Mapped to Dates

You can load data into the level 0 members of date-time dimensions using date strings instead of member names. Even if the date hierarchy does not span to the day granularity level, the data source can be specified by individual dates. The load process aggregates the values and stores them at the appropriate level.

Loading data based on date provides the following advantages:

Table 201 lists the date format strings you can use when you define the date field in the data load rules file:

Table 201. Date Format Strings

Date Format String

Example

mon dd yyyy

Jan 15 2006

Mon dd yyyy

January 15 2006

mm/dd/yy

01/15/06

mm/dd/yyyy

01/15/2006

yy.mm.dd

06.01.06

dd/mm/yy

15/01/06

dd.mm.yy

15.01.06

dd-mm-yy

15–01–06

dd Mon yy

15 January 06

dd mon yy

15 Jan 06

Mon dd yy

January 15 06

mon dd yy

Jan 15 06

mm-dd-yy

01–15–06

yy/mm/dd

06/01/15

yymmdd

060115

dd Mon yyyy

15 January 2006

dd mon yyyy

15 Jan 2006

yyyy-mm-dd

2006–01–15

yyyy/mm/dd

2006/01/15

Long Name

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Short Name

1/8/06 (m/d/yy)

Note:

Using extra white space not included in the internal format strings returns an error. Trailing characters after the date format has been satisfied are ignored. If you erroneously use a date string of 06/20/2006 with date format mm/dd/yy, the trailing 06 is ignored and the date is interpreted as June 20, 2020. Long Name format is not verified for a day-of-week match to the given date.