About names and labels

Names

Names have no reserved word or character restrictions and they are meant to be user-friendly descriptors for objects. Names do not have to be unique but they are restricted to 256 characters.

Calendar names and calendar view names have the same restrictions as labels. See the next section for more information about these restrictions.

Labels

A label is the unique identifier for form authoring, calculation editing, and many other Planning Business Modeler features throughout the Planning Server system. Labels must be unique and they cannot exceed 40 characters. Dimensions are an exception to this rule. They are permitted to use the same label across multiple model sites. However, it may be difficult to differentiate dimensions with identical labels in some lists that pull data from multiple model sites. Therefore, you should try not to duplicate dimension labels across model sites.

A label for a member set, member view or member property cannot have a value that is identical to the label of an existing member set, member view, or member property in the same dimension. For instance, Description is the label of a member property. Therefore, Description cannot be used for the label of a member set, view, or property.

A dimension cannot have two hierarchies that have the same label even if they are in different model sites. Remember that hierarchies can exist in child model sites and not appear in the parent site.

Certain restrictions apply to labels. These restrictions come from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services. You can find more information about these restrictions in the Help documentation for that product.

Structured data objects (with label restrictions)

Reserved words and restricted characters cannot be used in calendar names, calendar view names, or labels for the structured data objects that are shown in the following table:

Reserved words

The reserved words that are listed in the following table cannot be used in calendar names, calendar view names, or labels of structured data objects:

Restricted characters

The following list describes character restrictions imposed by PerformancePoint Server.

• Restrictions for calendar names, calendar view names, or labels of structured data objects

  The following restricted characters cannot be used in calendar names, calendar view names, or labels of structured data objects:

  . , ; ' ` : / \ * | ? " & % $ ! - + = ( ) [ ] { } < > ^ ~

• Restrictions for workflow objects such as cycles, jobs, and assignments

  The following restricted characters and character pairs may not be used in labels for workflow objects, such as cycles, jobs, and assignments:

  . ! @ # $ % ~ ` ^ & \\ / : * ? \" < > | = + \n \t \r '

• Considerations about underscore character

  The underscore character ( _ ) may cause naming conflicts when you use it in labels for applications, model sites, dimensions, and hierarchies. Because Planning Server uses an underscore to link these objects for internal representation, you may unintentionally create a duplicate internal name by using an underscore. Planning Server does not create an object if it has a duplicate internal name.

  For example, the following two dimension and hierarchy combinations produce the same internal name (Product_Model_Category).

  • A dimension labeled "Product" with a hierarchy labeled "Model_Category"

  • A dimension labeled "Product_Model" with a hierarchy labeled "Category"

Reference data objects (no label restrictions)

Labels for the reference data objects that are shown in the following table are not restricted: