Analysis Services
Dimension Characteristics
In addition to supporting several varieties of dimensions, other characteristics can be applied to provide increased functionality, such as ragged hierarchies, to these basic dimension varieties.
The following table displays which dimension characteristics (shown as columns) are supported by the dimension varieties (shown as rows).
| Shared | Private | Changing | Dependent | Write-enabled | Balanced hierarchies | Unbalanced hierarchies | Ragged hierarchies | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | Yes | Yes | Yes* | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Virtual | Yes | Yes | Yes** | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Parent-Child | Yes | Yes | Yes** | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Data Mining | Yes | No | Yes** | No | No | Yes | No | No |
*Required for regular dimensions using relational OLAP (ROLAP).
**Required.