Create a Virtual Attribute

In the above example of the Seasons consolidation, the four different season consolidation elements are made up by adding together the respective Months of Year that belong to the different seasons. The fact that you can add together attribute elements in groups means you can aggregate data on a report at a level other than one of the predefined attributes. The effect appears as if you had a Seasons attribute in your data model, as shown below.

Of course, you can get the same effect if you change your data model, and actually add a Seasons attribute to your Time hierarchy. However, adding an attribute is generally a very complex task because you have to ensure that the proper lookup and relationship tables exist in the warehouse. Consolidations allow you to avoid changing the data model, although in a limited way.

This Seasons consolidation is built by adding together respective Months of Year in the different seasons. But you are not limited to just adding. In fact, you can perform any simple arithmetic operation while building your consolidation.