Summary of Model Options

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

Also see Accessing the Samples Shown in This Book.

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 the 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 the 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:

Pivot tables
KPIs (see the Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence)
Pivot-type plug-ins (see the Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence)
Production business metrics (see Developing Productions)

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	Studio	Studio	Studio
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 in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
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	cube class or pivot table	Architect or Analyzer	Defining Calculated Members
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 in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
quality measure	Define measure via MDX outside of a cube	quality measure class	Quality Measure Manager	Defining Quality Measures in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
related cubes	Use levels of a different cube	cube class	Architect	Defining Cube-Cube Relationships in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
compound cube	Combine measures from different cubes or see these measures side by side	subject area class	Architect	Defining Shared Dimensions and Compound Cubes in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
KPI	Query the data in a more flexible way, for use as an alternative data source	KPI class	Studio	Defining Basic KPIs in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
pivot-type plug-in	Calculate a value based on the lowest-level data; use via drag and drop	plug-in class	Studio	Defining Plug-ins in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
aggregate-type plug-in	Calculate a value based on the lowest-level data; use in calculated members	plug-in class	Studio
term list	Define values outside of a cube, for various purposes	Business Intelligence folder item	Term List manager	Defining Term Lists in Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence
business metric	Compute data specific to a production	business metric class	Studio	Developing Productions
named filter	Define a filter for use with a specific cube	global	Analyzer	Using the Analyzer

Principles and Recommendations

Basic Concepts