Dimensions and Levels

Dimensions and Levels

In many scenarios, you can use dimensions and levels interchangeably. In this section, we compare them and see the differences.

1. In the Analyzer, click New.

2. Drag and drop the GenD definition to the Rows area. You should see something like this:

   

   The measure shown is Count, which is a count of patients.

3. Click New.

4. Expand the GenD dimension. Drag and drop the Gender level to the Rows area. You should see something like this:

   

   In this case, we see the same results.

   In the Patients sample, the names of dimensions are short and end with D, and the name of a level is never identical to the name of the dimension that contains it. This naming convention is not required, and you can use the same name for a level and for the dimension that contains it.

5. Click New.

6. Expand the AgeD dimension. You will see the following in the left area:

   

   This dimension is defined differently from the GenD dimension in two ways:

   • AgeD defines a special member called All Patients, which is an All member. An All member refers to all records of the base class.

   • AgeD defines multiple levels: Age Group, Age Bucket, and Age.

7. Drag and drop the AgeD dimension to the Rows area. You should see something like this:

   

   When you drag and drop a dimension for use as rows (or columns), the system displays all the members of the first level defined in that dimension. In this case, the first level is Age Group.