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 chapter summarizes all the elements, from both this book and the Advanced Modeling for InterSystems Business Intelligence. This chapter discusses the following topics:
Also see “Accessing the Samples Shown in This Book,” in the first chapter.
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* |
*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
The preceding chapter introduced pivot tables, which 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 | 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. | |||
| searchable measure | Aggregate values across multiple records; also support filtering of lowest-level records | |||
| 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 | |||
| 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 | |||
| 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 |