Year
Periods and years are separated into two dimensions, rather than having a single time dimension where each member is a period in a particular year.
| Property or Attribute | Required | Required by the Import Wizard when Adding Members | Required by the Import Wizard when Updating Members | Notes | Default set by Import Wizard if value is missing from import file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Required | Optional | Required (if Name not provided) | The ID is automatically generated if not included. | |
| Name | Required | Required | Required (if ID not provided) | The name can have up to 10 characters. Must be unique within the dimension. Do not use negative numbers. Doing so causes the Formula Builder to confuse such members with relative references. | No default. User must supply. |
| Description | Optional | Optional | Optional | The description can have up to 255 characters. | If not specified, defaults to the name. |
Because only Name is required, the minimum format to add members to this dimension is:
- Name
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
In the input file, members of the Year dimension must be in chronological order by member name, not member ID.
After making changes to the Year dimension, you should review the member order via the Architect's hierarchy display with 'View by name' unchecked to ensure that the fiscal year precedence is as desired. This is because displaying by member name order is usually misleading. Alphabetically FY2003 precedes FY2004, but if it were added to the database later in time than FY2004 then by default it would be a later year. If you are using the relative period/year reference capability in formulas, incorrect member orders could result in unexpected calculation results. You can re-order the years in Architect.