Definition
A hierarchy is a structure specifying the containment relationships of a number of values (or nodes or elements). A hierarchy has a single root (or top or ALL) value. A value in a hierarchy may be linked to one or more children and a non-top value is linked to one or more parents. The links between values thus specify the containment structure. Hierarchies are essential for specifying dimensions in multidimensional cubes.
Key Points
The notion of a dimension is an essential and distinguishing concept for multidimensional cubes. Dimensions are used for two purposes: the selection of data and the groupingof data at a desired level of detail. As an example, a three-dimensional cube for capturing product sales may have a Product dimension, a Time dimension, and a Store dimension. The Product dimension captures information about the product sold, such as textual description, color, weight, etc., as well as groupings of products (product groups, product families, departments,...
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Pedersen, T.B. (2018). Hierarchy. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_887
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