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Summary of Model Options

A Business Intelligence model can contain many elements in addition to cubes and subject areas. The additional elements are discussed in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence. For reference and planning, this page summarizes all the modeling elements.

Also see Accessing the Business Intelligence Samples.

Items That You Can Use in Pivot Tables

This section compares items that you can use directly in the Analyzer to define a pivot table. These items are categorized as follows:

Items That Group or Filter Records

The following items can be used to group or filter records. Except for some searchable measures, none of these items can be used as measures.

Item Use in Rows and Columns options Use in Filters option
dimension or level Yes Yes
dimension or level of a related cube Yes Yes
shared dimension or level in the same compound cube Yes Yes
calculated member (non-measure) Yes Yes
calculated member (non-measure) in a related cube Yes Yes
calculated member (non-measure) in another cube in the same compound cube No No
computed dimension Yes Yes
computed dimension in a related cube Yes Yes
computed dimension in another cube in the same compound cube No No
named set Yes Yes
named set in another cube No No
named filter No Yes
named filter in another cube No No
searchable measures Yes, except for text, string, and NLP measures Yes

Related cubes, compound cubes, computed dimensions, and NLP measures are discussed in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence.

Named filters are discussed in Using the Analyzer.

Note that calculated members that are part of existing cube dimensions do not appear in filters unless the Show Calculated Members in Filters option is selected.

Items That Behave Like Measures

The following items behave like measures and are shown in the body of a pivot table. With one exception (noted), these items cannot be used for filtering.

Item Use in Rows and Columns options Use in Measures option Use in Filters option
measure Yes, except for text, string, and NLP measures Yes, except for text, string, and NLP measures Yes, if searchable
measure of a related cube No* No* No
measure of another cube in the same compound cube Yes Yes No
calculated measure Yes Yes No
calculated measure from another cube No No** No
quality measure Yes Yes No
quality measure from another cube Not applicable** Not applicable** Not applicable**
property of pivot-type plug-in Yes Yes No
pivot-type plug-in from another cube Not applicable** Not applicable** Not applicable**

Related cubes, compound cubes, NLP measures, quality measures, and plug-ins are discussed in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence.

* These measures would not be aggregated correctly if used this way.

** Quality measures and plug-ins are designed to be directly associated with any cubes where they are to be used.

Properties

The following table summarizes how properties can be used:

Item Use in Rows and Columns options Use in Measures option Use in Filters option
property Yes No No
property in another cube (related or compound) Yes No No

Related cubes and compound cubes are discussed in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence.

Items That You Cannot Access Directly in the Analyzer

For reference, note that you cannot directly access the following items in the Analyzer:

  • KPIs

  • Term lists

  • Aggregate-type plug-ins

  • Production business metrics

Except for business metrics, however, you can define calculated members that use these items; see the next section. Then you can use those calculated members in the Analyzer.

These items are all discussed in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence.

Items That You Can Use in Calculated Members and Measures

Via calculated members and measures, you can greatly extend your model without rebuilding any cubes. The following table summarizes all the kinds of model element that you can use within the definition of a calculated member or measure:

Item To Access This Item from a Calculated Member or Measure
MDX standard cube items (dimension, hierarchy, level, measure, property, calculated member, named set) Many options; see Using InterSystems MDX.
computed dimension* Use the dimension and member name to create a member expression that refers to the desired member, in the same way that you do for any standard member.
quality measure* Use the %QualityMeasure dimension to create a quality measure expression that refers to the measure.
KPI or plug-in* Use the %KPI function to refer to the value of a property in the KPI or plug-in.
term list*

  • Use the %LOOKUP function to return the value of a term list item.

  • Use the LOOKUP function to return a given field (the value field or another field), for a term list item.

  • Use the %TERMLIST function to create a set of members, given a term list pattern.

*These items are discussed in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence.

The system does not provide a way to access a production business metric from within a calculated member.

Comparison of Possible Widget Data Sources

Pivot tables are the most common kind of data source for a widget on a dashboard. The system provides many other kinds of data sources. You can directly use any of the following items as data sources:

The following table compares these items:

Feature Pivot Tables KPIs Plugins Production Business Metrics
How definition is stored Folder item Class definition Class definition Class definition
Where defined Analyzer IDE IDE IDE
Data source options MDX query

  • MDX query

  • SQL query

  • Values returned by custom code

MDX query Values returned by custom code
Supports custom computation using lowest-level records? No No Yes No
Supports filtering? Yes Yes, depending on your implementation Yes, depending on your implementation No
Supports custom filtering (for example, provide user with only a subset of the members of a level)? No Yes, depending on your implementation Yes, depending on your implementation No
Supports listings? Yes Yes, depending on your implementation Yes No
Supports the Mini Analyzer? Yes No No No

High-Level Summary of Options

For reference, the following table summaries the possible contents of an InterSystems IRIS Business Intelligence model, including information on which tool you use to create each element:

Item Purpose Location of definition Primary tool to create Where described
dimension, hierarchy, and level Define groups of records cube class Architect Defining Dimensions, Hierarchies, and Levels
measure (numeric, integer, date, age, or boolean) Aggregate values across multiple records cube class Architect Defining Measures
measure (text or string) Store string data in the fact table. These measures are usually also searchable. cube class Architect Defining Measures
searchable measure Aggregate values across multiple records; also support filtering of lowest-level records cube class Architect Defining Measures
NLP measure Used by NLP dimensions; not visible in the Analyzer cube class Architect Using Text Analytics in Cubes
property Contain data specific to a level cube class Architect Defining Properties
listing Provide access to lowest-level details cube class Architect Defining Listings, Defining List Fields, and Defining Listing Groups
calculated measure Define a measure based on other model elements cube class or pivot table Architect or Analyzer Defining Calculated Members
calculated member (non-measure) Define a member based on other model elements
named set Define a reusable set of members cube class Architect Defining Named Sets
subject area Filter a cube or otherwise refine its definition subject area class Architect Defining Subject Areas
computed dimension Define groups of records to retrieve at runtime (usually via SQL or MDX) cube class Architect Defining Computed Dimensions
quality measure Define measure via MDX outside of a cube quality measure class Quality Measure Manager Defining Quality Measures
related cubes Use levels of a different cube cube class Architect Defining Cube-Cube Relationships
compound cube Combine measures from different cubes or see these measures side by side subject area class Architect Defining Shared Dimensions and Compound Cubes
KPI Query the data in a more flexible way, for use as an alternative data source KPI class IDE Defining Basic KPIs
pivot-type plug-in Calculate a value based on the lowest-level data; use via drag and drop plug-in class IDE Defining Plug-ins
aggregate-type plug-in Calculate a value based on the lowest-level data; use in calculated members
term list Define values outside of a cube, for various purposes Business Intelligence folder item Term List manager Defining Term Lists
business metric Compute data specific to a production business metric class IDE Developing Productions
named filter Define a filter for use with a specific cube global Analyzer Using the Analyzer
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