Date Fields in Transformer Cubes

[worldofchandran]

Hi,
I wanted to know whats the best strategy to have mulitple date fields in a cube?
Should we go for a date dimension for each date field or store it as only a category? The input data source is not a data warehouse so there is no date dimension in the input feed as well, it just exists as a date field in tables.
The current model that i need to build has 7 date fields like begin date, end date, effective date and so on. How do i arranage these 7 fields in my cube?

 

[CognosChicago]

It really depends on your user requirements. Do they have a need to see and utilize more than one date at a time, if they do then you will need multiple date dimensions. I am personally not a big fan of having more than one date dimension in a cube, but if you have to do it, then I say do it, but only as seperate dimensions. It will take some educating of the users for them to understand what they are looking at in the cube so they don't get lost in the different date dimensions.

 

[worldofchandran]

Thanks Cognos Chicago

Yes the users need to haave a look at different dates. The data deals with Insurance information and Claim details where multiple dates need to be shown. So I guess i need to go for multiple date dimensions!

And is there any limitations to number of date dimensions and in general dimensions that we can have in a cube?

Regards,
Chandran

 

[CognosChicago]

Chandran,

Not that I have found. Are you sure Powerplay is the right tool for your users? I wonder if a report with all this information might be better for them, or possibly the combination of a cube drilling into a report with more detailed information.

 

[worldofchandran]

CognosChicago,
Thanks for your valuable information.
U were right. We plan to build mulitple cubes providing drilling features or drilling from cubes to reports to show details. However i was just trying to build a prototype cube with possible dimensions to check its feasibility and performance.

Regards,
Chandran