Specifications

130 CHAPTER 7 Master Data Services
An entity can also have any number of domain-based attributes whose values are mem-
bers of another related entity. In the example in Figure 7-1, the ProductSubCategory attribute
is a domain-based attribute. That is, the ProductSubCategory codes are attribute values in the
Product entity, and they are also members of the ProductSubCategory entity. A third type of
attribute is the le attribute, which you can use to store a le or image.
You have the option to organize attributes into attribute groups. Each attribute group con-
tains the name and code attributes of the entity. You can then assign the remaining attributes
to one or more attribute groups or not at all. Attribute groups are securable objects.
You can organize members into hierarchies. Figure 7-2 shows partial data from two types
of hierarchies. On the left is an explicit hierarchy, which contains all members of a single enti-
ty. On the right is a derived hierarchy, which contains members from multiple, related entities.
FIGURE 7-2 Product hierarchies
In the explicit hierarchy, you create consolidated members to group the leaf members. For
example, in the Geography hierarchy shown in Figure 7-2, North America, United States, and
Bikes are all consolidated members that create multiple levels for summarization of the leaf
members.
In a derived hierarchy, the domain-based attribute values of an entity dene the levels. For
example, in the Category hierarchy in the example, Wholesale is in the ProductGroup entity,
which in turn is a domain-based attribute of the ProductCategory entity of which Compo-
nents is a member. Likewise, the ProductCategory entity is a domain-based attribute of the
ProductSubCategory entity, which contains Forks as a member. The base entity, Product,
includes ProductSubCategory as a domain-based attribute.
Regardless of hierarchy type, each hierarchy contains all members of the associated enti-
ties. When you add, change, or delete a member, all hierarchies to which the member belongs
will also update to maintain consistency across hierarchies.
A collection is an alternative way to group members by selecting nodes from existing
explicit hierarchies, as shown in Figure 7-3. Although this example shows only leaf members,
a collection can also contain branches of consolidated members and leaf members. You can
combine nodes from multiple explicit hierarchies into a single collection, but all members
must belong to the same entity.