Creating a shared dimension for cubes
If designing multiple cubes that contain the same dimension, create a shared dimension. For example, if one cube contains sales data by country, state, and city, and another cube contains budget data by country, state, and city, you can create a shared multi-level dimension that provides country, state, and city data. By using a shared dimension, you define and maintain dimension data in one place, and reuse the dimension in multiple cubes. Reusing a dimension also speeds up data processing.
There are two ways to create a shared dimension. You can:
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How to create a shared dimension
This procedure assumes that you have already created a data object, as well as, the data set that provides the data for the dimension.
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(Drop a field here to create a group)
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If creating a multi-level dimension, drag and drop additional columns. Figure 3-6 shows an example of a multi-level dimension that contains country, state, and city data.
Figure 3-6  
Choose OK. The shared dimension appears under Shared Dimensions in Data Explorer and in the data object design.
How to convert a cube dimension into a shared dimension
This procedure assumes that you have already included cubes in a data object.
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In Data Explorer, expand the cube that contains the dimension to convert to a shared dimension, then right-click the dimension and choose Convert to Shared Dimension, as shown in Figure 3-7.
Figure 3-7  
The converted dimension appears under Shared Dimensions in Data Explorer and in the data object design, as shown in Figure 3-8. BIRT also replaces the original cube dimension with the shared dimension.
Figure 3-8  

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