You create a cube with dimensions, and dimensions identify how to organize the information or data that you want to track and report on. Each element in each dimension identifies the location (or "x-y coordinate") of a cell in a cube.
Data is loaded into cube cells. A cell is identified by the intersection of dimensions.
Common dimensions are time periods, products, markets, customers, suppliers, promotion conditions, raw materials, manufacturing plants, transportation methods, media types, and so on.
When you create a dimension, you identify the leaf-level elements that make up the dimension and, optionally, any hierarchies (consolidations) of the elements within the dimension.
Dimension names can have a maximum of 256 characters.