The method used for referencing cells, as described above, enables calculations to always work within the current “scope”.
For instance in a cross-tab table with one or more hierarchical dimensions, it is possible to expand a dimension to its next level.
For example: a Time dimension can be expanded from the Quarter level to the Month level. Thus the scope has changed from 'Quarter' to 'Month'. In this expanded level, a formula will only reference dimension values concerning the newly established scope, which is 'Month', and no-longer reference dimension values in the former “upper” scope: 'Quarter'.
Even though the expanded/retracted scope may now contain more or less rows or columns than the original scope – When properly designed, the formulas will automatically adapt to the new scope.
In our example, where the Scope was changed from Quarters to Months: An 'all' reference will now simply address all Months rather than all Quarters, a 'd-1' reference will still refer to the last row or last column, which now contains month values rather than quarter values, etc.
Note: Grand totals are considered to be in a scope level separate from the dimension values.