Arithmetic overflow error while refreshing the cognos powerplay cube

Error message:
(TR1901) A record has been rejected. An arithmetic overflow has occurred. (Data) in 'd:\gg_etltools_model1.pyi'.

Solution:

  • First identify the measure for which the arithmetic overflow error pops up. The easiest way to do that is to generate cubes while experimenting with the removal of the measures one by one.
  • Have a look at the calculated measures when there is a division operation and ensure that there is no division by zero. It is a good practice to handle such variables with if - then - else statement.
  • Make sure that there's no non-numeric entry in the source data in the field that is treated as numeric by Cognos PowerPlay.
  • Check if there are extremely high values in the numeric fields. If there are and that is correct, set the measure storage type to 64-bit floating point and make them smaller if possible (for instance report tons instead of kilograms, thousands of euro instead of euro)
  • Check whether the model has a category with more than 65536 children in the source data. If this is the case, modify the source so that it breaks down the children into several subcategories.