E: The Scenario and Version dimensions represent the broadest categories of data in your application. Scenario describes the type of data that a plan includes, such as budget, actual, or forecast, as well as the time span that the plan covers.
Version allows for flexibility and iterative planning cycles. For example, your application could have two versions, Working and Final, for each scenario. You can also use versions to model possible outcomes based on different assumptions about interest rates, growth rates, and so on. For example, your application an have a Best Case and Worst Case version for each scenario.
Note:
Essbase maximizes performance by dividing the Essbase - Standard dimensions of an application into two types:
dense dimensions
sparse dimensions.
Sparse and dense are a property of the values of an attribute.
Sparse
Data is normally stored in sparse form. If no value exists for a given combination of dimension values, no row exists in the fact table. For example, if not every product is sold in every market. In this case, Market and Product are sparse dimensions.
It's why in the reporting tool Obiee for instance, by default, data are considered sparse.
Dense
Most multidimensional databases may also contain dense dimensions. A fact table is considered to have dense data if it has (of a high probability to have) one row for every combination of its associated dimension levels.
