Defining Member Properties

When you create a SAS OLAP cube, the information that is relevant to the cube is defined with the cube hierarchy, measures, and aggregations (summaries) that will be stored with the cube. Additional information that is part of the cube member data can be included in the cube definition as a member property. Member properties are attributes of dimension members that provide an additional gradation of information to users of the cube data. Member property information is usually not as significant as the levels and members within a dimension, and therefore does not qualify as a level or member. However, it can have additional analytical value that can be useful at query time.

A member property is assigned to a level within a hierarchy, and a level can have multiple properties that are assigned to it. For hierarchy placement, a member property is assigned (by default) to all hierarchies that the select level is included in. However, you can remove one or more (but not all) of the hierarchies that the member property is assigned to. When you create a member property, you must specify the property name, column, and level. Member property names can be shared across a cube but must be unique for a specific level within a specific hierarchy. You can also specify a caption, description, and format. The format that you specify here is used instead of the format in the data set.

The PROPERTY statement is used with the PROC OLAP statement when you define a cube:

PROPERTY zipcode-region
   column=post_code
   hierarchy=geographic
   level=region;

You can also establish member properties with the Member Property dialog box that is part of the Cube Designer wizard in SAS OLAP Cube Studio. The Member Property dialog box is accessed from the Cube Designer – Dimensions page when you create a cube or edit a cube. On the Dimensions page, select Add Member Property to create a member property. In the Define a Member Property dialog box, enter the member property name, level, column, and caption.