Intoduction to Allocating Data Using the OLAP DML

Allocating data using the OLAP DML involves creating an ALLOCMAP type aggmap object that specifies how the data should be allocated, and executing that object using the ALLOCATE command to actually distribute the data from a source object to the cells of a target. The target is a variable that is dimensioned by one or more hierarchical dimensions. The source data is specified by dimension values at a higher level in a hierarchical dimension than the values that specify the target cells.

ALLOCATE uses an aggmap to specify the dimensions and the values of the hierarchies to use in the allocation, the method of operation to use for a dimension, and other aspects of the allocation.

Some of the allocation operations are based on existing data. The object containing that data is the basis object for the allocation. In those operations, ALLOCATE distributes the data from the source based on the values of the basis object.

ALLOCATE has operations that are the inverse of the operations of the AGGREGATE command. The allocation operation methods range from simple allocations, such as copying the source data to the cells of the target variable, to very complex allocations, such as a proportional distribution of data from a source that is a formula, with the amount distributed being based on another formula, with multiple variables as targets, and with an aggmap that specifies different methods of allocation for different dimensions.