Building Shared Members by Using a Rules File

The data associated with a shared member comes from an actual member with the same name as the shared member. Because the shared member stores a pointer to data contained in the actual member, the data is shared between the members and is stored only once.

For example, member 100-20 (Diet Cola) rolls up into the 100 family and into the Diet family.

Figure 90. Shared Members in the Sample.Basic Database

This image shows shared members, as described in the text preceding the image.

You can share members among as many parents as you want. Diet Cola has two parents (100 and Diet), but you can define it to roll up into more parents.

You can share members at multiple generations in the outline. In Figure 90, Shared Members in the Sample.Basic Database, Diet Cola is shared by two members at generation 2 in the outline, but it can be shared by a member at generation 3 and a member at generation 4, as shown in Figure 95, Sample Outline: Members Shared at Different Generations.

Creating shared members at different generations in the outline is easy in Outline Editor; creating shared members using dimension build is more difficult. You must pick the build method and format the data source carefully.

The following sections describe how to build shared members in the outline by using a data source and a rules file.

Note:

You should not create an outline in which a shared member is located before the actual member with which it is associated. If you do this, you will encounter an error while validating the outline. However, during a dimension build, you can select an option in the Dimension Build Settings–Dimension Build Settings Tab to have Essbase fix the error by making the top-most shared member the primary member and the former primary member a shared member. See the Oracle Essbase Administration Services Online Help.