KB36804: Subtotals do not calculate to report level when using absolute dimensionality and removing highest level attribute from grid or report

SYMPTOM:
For a report where a metric is based on a fact referencing a table at the level of the highest attribute on the grid, it can be noted that subtotal values do not sum to report level when the attribute is removed from the report view or from the report definition.
 
STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
This issue can be reproduced in the Tutorial project by taking the following steps:

• Create a new fact, mapping to a Category level fact table:
   
  

• Based on this, build a metric:
  
  

• Build a report, with the Category and Subcategory attributes on the rows and the Revenue metric, together with the new metric on the columns
• Enable all subtotals and execute the report:
   
  

• Note that the 'Total Dollar Sales' are shown for each subcategory and summed across all categories to calculate the gross total, as would be expected.
• Remove 'Category' from the grid to the Report Objects window or from the report definition entirely.
• Note that the subtotal value has increased dramatically after this manipulation:
   
  

CAUSE:
The metric ‘Total Dollar Sales’ shows the same value for all sub-categories, since it is using a fact mapped to a higher level fact table (MNTH_CATEGORY_SLS), which has only Category as a foreign key and not Sub-category. 
 
In the case where the Category attribute is on the grid, while the subtotal for Revenue simply adds the values across the grid, the subtotal for the ‘Total Dollar Sales’ does not do that. It recognises the dimensionality of this metric and displays the subtotal value at the Category level. This is controlled by a VLDB setting called "Subtotal Dimensionality Aware" which by default is set to ‘True’. If this is set to ‘False’, the subtotals will not take into account the dimensionality and will simply add the values across the grid. Further details can be found in KB9911: How to make subtotals not dimensionality aware in MicroStrategy Engine and KB14944: How are the VLDB properties 'Subtotal and Aggregate Compatibility' and 'Subtotal Dimensionality Aware' related in MicroStrategy?  . This VLDB property can be set either at the metric level or the report level and the hierarchy logic for VLDB properties (KB3632: What is the hierarchy for the MicroStrategy VLDB Settings?) will apply.
 
While the grand total is also a sum of all the values across the grid, it does take into account the dimensional awareness of the metric, when the "Subtotal Dimensionality Aware" is set to ‘True’. It is, consequently, displaying a total which is the sum of the subtotals.
 
In the case where the Category attribute is not present on the grid, the subtotals and grand total for Revenue are self-explanatory. However, the subtotal for the ‘Total Dollar Sales’ metric does not seem to recognise the "Subtotal Dimensionality Aware" property. This is by design, since the property applies only if the level attribute is present on the grid. If this is not the case, then there are no sub-totals to display at that level and hence this dimensional awareness is not reflected in the grand total.
 
This statement is further substantiated by the fact that, if the ‘Group by’ options for the Grand Total (Data > Subtotal > Advanced > Group by > Add) are displayed, only options for attributes present on the grid appear.
 
ACTION:
On the basis of the above information, the subtotals are behaving as expected in the scenario where the highest level attribute is removed from a report grid.