Valid Data Fields

If you are performing a dimension build, skip this section. Data fields are ignored during a dimension build.

Either the data source or the rules file must contain enough information for Essbase to determine where to put each data value. A data field contains the data value for its intersection in the database. In Figure 63, Kinds of Fields, for example, 42 is a data field. It is the dollar sales of 100-10 (Cola) in Texas in January.

In a data field, Essbase accepts numbers and their modifiers, with no spaces or separators between them, and the text strings #MI and #MISSING, as listed in Table 38.

Table 38. Valid Data Field Modifiers

Valid Modifiers

Examples

Currency symbols:

  • Dollar $

  • Euro This image is of the Euro symbol.

  • Yen ¥

$12 is a valid value.

$ 12 is not a valid value because there is a space between the dollar sign and the 12.

Parentheses around numbers to indicate a negative number

(12)

Minus sign before numbers. Minus signs after numbers are not valid.

-12

Decimal point

12.3

Large numbers with or without commas

1,345,218 and 1345218 are valid values.

#MI or #MISSING to represent missing or unknown values

See Placing Text in Empty Fields.

If the data source contains a member field for every dimension and one field that contains data values, you must define the field that contains data values as a data field in the rules file. To read the following data source into the Sample.Basic database, for example, define the last field as a data field.

Jan    Cola    East    Sales    Actual    100
Feb    Cola    East    Sales    Actual    200

  To define a data field, see “Defining Columns as Data Fields” in the Oracle Essbase Administration Services Online Help.

If the data source contains blank fields for data values, replace them with #MI or #MISSING. If there is no value in the data field (or the value is #MISSING), Essbase does not change the existing data value in the database. Essbase does not replace current values with empty values.