General information

  • For the Data Loader, dimension names are case-sensitive in the data file. In the configuration file, however, the period name and the dimension name are case insensitive.
  • When you select the Accumulate option, you can load multiple data records from the data file into the same database cell. For example, if a cell already had the value 10, and you loaded data using Accumulate and a data file that had one record loading 2 into that cell, and a second record loading 3 into that cell, the end result would be 15.
  • When you select the Overwrite option and have multiple records loading into the same cell, the last record in the data file is used. This is because the last record overwrites the earlier record's value.
  • If data fields are specified in the configuration file but are blank in the data file, NULL loads into the database. Null is distinguished from zero in that zero is an actual value stored in the cell, and null means the cell is empty.
  • You can overlap fields in your data files. For example, in a fixed format data file, field 1 can end at position 12, and field 2 can start at position 10. You can even have fields 1 and 2 use the same value for each record by specifying the same beginning and ending position.
  • Data is not written to calculated periods. Data is written only to leaf periods.
  • Under certain circumstances, the Data Loader does not fully respect a focus range. As an example, assume you have a focus range set for Sep 2002 thru Dec 2005. When you try to load data for 2002 and 2003, you receive a warning that all or part of the data is outside the focus range.
  • As expected, the data does not load for Jan - Aug in 2002. However, this is also true for 2003, which should have data loaded to all periods.
  • A straightforward workaround is to separate the multi-year data loading into year-based components. There are two ways to manage this:
    • Option 1: Create two configuration files, leaving the data file unchanged
      • Split the multi-year configuration file into two configuration files (for our example, one covers Jan-Aug and another covers Sept-Dec) which leaves the data file unchanged;
    • Option 2: Create two data files, leaving the configuration file unchanged
      • Split the data file into two (one for 2002 and another for 2003, in above example) while leaves the full range configuration file unchanged.