Type 2 SCD dimension on multipe levels turns into type 1 !!!

Question

Hello
Im having difficulties implementing a type 2 dimension where the history trigger is put on multiple levels. If I only have history on the lowest level of the dimension everything works fine. But as soon as I try to capture the changes in de higher levels as well the trouble starts.
Image the following dimension:
PClass_Code PClass_Desc PGroup_Code PGroep_Desc PCode PName Eff_Dt End_Dt
A Play 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chess 19000101 20010101
A Play 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chessboard 20010102 NULL
So somewhere in time the productname has been changed, resulting in a type 2 record.
If I chose to change the productclass description in 'Toys' I expect the following to happen:
PClass_Code PClass_Desc PGroup_Code PGroup_Desc PCode PName Eff_Dt End_Dt
A Play 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chess 19000101 20010101
A Play 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chessboard 20010102 20060730
A Toys 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chessboard 20060731 NULL
A new type 2 record in my dimension.
In OWB I have set a history trigger with effective and expiration dates on the highest (productclass) and lowest (product) level to capture the changes in the history. The generation of sparse data works fine, i.e. I also get a unique record for each productclass record without any products. All the links between levels are correctly defined.
But this is what happens:
PClass_Code PClass_Desc PGroup_Code PGroup_Desc PCode PName Eff_Dt End_Dt
A Toys 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chess 19000101 20010101
A Toys 120 Boardgames 4209420X Chessboard 20010102 NULL
A type 1 change in my highest level!
Can anyone help me to achieve the 2nd scenarion, the one I expected?
Thanks much,
Roelant

Answer 1

Hello Rajesh,
I agree, the thing is that this is all standard OWB R2 functionality. Up untill now I always programmed SCD's manually but with this new release I try to use the built in functions. I have to say that it works fine when the changes occur on the lowest level. But with changes on higher levels... see my example :-). I am still looking for ways to get a full type 2 dimension with using the standard dimension properties.
Another possible solution is to skip all the levels and create 1 big level which contains all the attributes (including 'higher levels'). You have then got to recreate the levels and hierarchies in OLAP, which is a shame...
Hope you (or anyone) can take a look at this.
Regards,
Roelant