Custom relative time members

For more information on creating a custom relative time member, see Creating a custom relative time member.

IBM® Cognos® Cube Designer validates custom member property values as follows:

• Offsets must be an integer value (-n, 0, +n).
• The context period must be higher than the target period. If the target period is set to the highest level, the context period must be blank.
• For period-to-date, if life-to-date is false, the target period must be lower than the to-date period. If life-to-date is true, target period can be the highest level.
• For n-period running total, the target period cannot be the highest level, and number of periods must be an integer greater than or equal to 1.

The target and context properties operate in a similar way to the parallel period function, allowing selection of any member relative to a current period member. Start with the current period member at the target level. Find the ancestor at the context level, and then find the sibling of ancestor using the context offset. Locate the member parallel to current period among the descendants of sibling at target level. Then, apply the target offset.

If the target and context properties are set so that the corresponding member is outside the bounds of the hierarchy, the custom member is dropped at cube start time, and an event is logged in the file cognos_analytics_location/logs/XQE/xqe.log.xml

The parent of a custom relative time member in a hierarchy is assigned automatically by the server as follows:

• Custom single period - the parent is the predefined current period member at the level above the target period. For example, Current Quarter is the parent of 'Same Month Last Year'.
• Custom period-to-date - the parent is the predefined period-to-date member at the level above the to-date period. For example, Year to Date is the parent of 'Quarter to Date Last Year'.
• Life-to-date - the parent is the All member for a single root hierarchy, or the member is at the root level for a multi-root hierarchy.
• N-period running total - the parent is the All member for a single root hierarchy, or the member is at the root level for a multi-root hierarchy.