A definition manager independently defines a plurality of dimensional
members of a data source. An operation manager receives user input
selecting a set of dimensional members of interest and at least one
operator to manipulate the selected set of members based on the selected
at least one operator. The set of dimensional members of interest
comprise a first dimensional member of interest having a given dimension
and a given level in a hierarchy of the given dimension and a second
dimensional member of interest having a different dimension from the
given dimension or a different level in the hierarchy from the given
level in the hierarchy. A display manager places the manipulated set of
dimensional members in a report so that the manipulated set of
dimensional members are displayed adjacently based on the operator to
facilitate comparative analysis.