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XL2000: OLAP Data in Excel PivotTable Is Incorrect

Article ID: 268079 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q268079

SYMPTOMS

In Excel 2000, when you create a PivotTable that uses an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube as the data source, the data for one or more levels is incorrect.

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Excel allocates an internal 253-character buffer for a "unique member name," an internal entity which Excel receives from Microsoft SQL Server. The OLE Database Connectivity for On-Line Analytical Processing (OLE DB for OLAP) specification states that unique member names may be as long as 2,048 characters; however, Excel truncates a unique member name after 253 characters.

A unique member name is similar to a key. It is a crucial entity that Excel uses to communicate with the SQL Server. The truncation of a unique member name usually results in an error. However, in some cases the truncated name may match another name that already exists, and Excel then displays incorrect data.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, limit unique member names to 253 characters or fewer.
The hotfix changes the behavior of Excel in the scenario that is described in the "Cause" section. Instead of displaying incorrect data, Excel displays #N/A to indicate that the data for the cell is invalid. The hotfix does not correct the underlying problem of Excel displaying incorrect data.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP-3).

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