Essbase – Using MDX Return Member Name Instead of Alias

How do you make Essbase return member names instead of aliases in the report created by the MDX query?

This is expected behaviour. By default Essbase will return the Alias name.

If you are running the MDX query through the Essbase Administration Services console, to return the member name you need to use:

DIMENSION PROPERTIES [Products].[MEMBER_NAME] on AXIS(1),

For example:

SELECT
{([Qtr1].CHILDREN),([Qtr2].CHILDREN),([Qtr3].CHILDREN),([Qtr4].CHILDREN)}
ON AXIS(0),
{([Systems].CHILDREN)}
DIMENSION PROPERTIES [Products].[MEMBER_NAME] on AXIS(1),
{[Sale]}
ON AXIS(2),
{[Central]}
ON AXIS(3)
FROM ASOsamp.Sample;

This will then return the member name.

However, you will get an extra properties column in your results and unfortunately this cannot be removed.

This is a current enhancement request (to optionally remove the extra column).

If you are running the MDX query via a MaxL script then you can use the command:

alter session set dml_output alias off;

This will turn off the alias display.