You can import a correctly formatted text file into Essbase as an alias table. Alias table import files have the .alt extension. Alias table import files should have the following structure:
The first line in the file starts with $ALT_NAME. Add one or two spaces followed by the name of the alias table. If the alias table name contains a blank character, enclose the name in single quotation marks.
Each line between the first and the last lines contains two values separated by one or more spaces or tabs. The first value must be the name of an existing outline member; the second value is the alias for the member.
Any member or alias name that contains a blank or underscore must be enclosed in double quotation marks.
The following is an example of an alias table import file:
$ALT_NAME 'Quarters' Qtr1 Quarter1 Jan January Feb February Mar March $END
You can also export an alias table from the Essbase outline to a text file. The export file contains aliases and the corresponding member names—qualified member names for duplicate members.