Click the dimension from the Model box or from the Model Artifacts Browser to open the Dimension Browser. The dimensions are listed on the left and the members appear on the right in the Member Pane.

Click the dimension name. The hierarchies and members in the Members Pane can be expanded and collapsed with an icon. The selected member's properties appear in the Member Properties panel.

There are three situations in which you might want to edit the dimensions in your model:

Ungenerated New Model, No Data : you can add, edit, delete, or move members in the dimension hierarchies freely.
Generated Existing Model, Loaded with Data, Model Unlocked : you can add new members but cannot edit or delete existing dimension members. If you append a new member, when you save, all rollup data for the new member's hierarchy will be deleted, so you must run an aggregation afterward.
Generated Existing Model, Loaded with Data, Model Locked : you can add, edit, delete, or move members in the dimension hierarchies. When you save, all rollup data for the members changed will be deleted, so you must run an aggregation afterward.

The Dimension Browser has different options depending on whether the model is Generated and Unlocked, Generated and Locked, or Ungenerated.

Dimension Browser for a Generated and Unlocked Model

Icons that are available to perform actions include Refresh, Add Member, Save, and New Attribute.

On existing members, you can update the Display Label, Number Format, and Locked status.

You can add new members and set member properties. If you add a new member, when you save, all rollup data for the new member's hierarchy will be deleted, so you must run an aggregation afterward.

Dimension Browser for a Generated and Locked Model

Icons that are available to perform actions include Refresh, Add Member, Delete Member, Save, and New Attribute.

On existing members, you can update the Display Label, Number Format, and Rollup Operator. You can also move the member to a different parent by dragging and dropping it.

You can add new members and set member properties.

You can select a member and delete it.

If you have changed rollup operators, added, deleted, or moved members, then when you save, all rollup data for the members changed will be deleted, so you must run an aggregation afterward.

When you click Save, a message tells you that your changes have been submitted for execution. You will receive an email once the process is completed. While the change is being processed, you cannot make other changes.

Dimension Browser for an Ungenerated Model

Icons that are available to perform actions include Refresh, Add Member, Delete Member, Save, and New Attribute.

On existing members, you can update the Display Label, Number Format, and Rollup Operator. You can also move the member to a different parent by dragging and dropping it.

You can add new members and set member properties.

You can select a member and delete it.

When you click Save, your changes are saved immediately. Because there is no data in the model, there is no delay in saving the changes.

Dimension Locking Compared to Dimension Security

The Dimension Browser offers the ability to lock dimension members. This option prevents the user from making changes to data for that member in Views (or applications) that have enabled Dimension-Based Locking. The user can see the data for that member but cannot change it.

The Dimension Browser does not offer the ability to prevent users from seeing data for a dimension member. To restrict user access, a Power user must define security access to certain dimensions, hierarchies, or members using dimension security. This is available in SpotlightXL. See Manage, Application Administration, Model Permissions.

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What's Next

Using the Dimension Attribute Browser

Table of contents

Using the Dimension Browser for Hierarchy Management