Hi,

I need some help in modeling data.

Once I create the synonym i want to classify the columns into dimensions/measures.

By default webfocus treats
all numeric columns as Measures
&
all character columns as dimensions.

But i dont want this, i want to define which column is a measure/dimension.

Ex: If there are columns like account number, SSN i dont want these columns to be classified as measures.

Any help on this is appreciated.

Thanks,
Amarnath

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

Is this concerning PMF? If so, you will receive better responses by posting in the forum for Performance Management Framework issues.

No, it is not related to PMF.

This issue is when i open the model in Infoassist the columns are wrongly classified as measures/dimensions.

Are you looking for Business View then here it is

"Creating Business Views" under Chapter -3

http://documentation.informati...61ddgt/wf761ddgt.pdf

Hi Ram,

Thanks for the advice.

My issue does not solve by creating a business view.

Even though you create a business view, there is no way you can classify the columns as measures/dimensions.

Suppose i create a business view with columns

merchant number (it is numeric)
account number (it is numeric)
merchant name (it is character)
merchant fees (it is numberic)

According to the business only merchant fees is a measure.
But webfocus is treating merchant number, account number, merchant fees as measures.

This is creating inconvienience for the business users while dragging and dropping the columns in infoassist.

Thanks,
Amarnath

My general and long-standing feeling is that if you are not going to do arithmetic with a field even if it has numbers in it, then they should be defined as alphanumeric.

What kind of file is this? Would this be a simple matter of changing the usage format in the master? Also there are tricks you can use in the master definition like using defines to get the fields in the formats most useful to you.

Just some thoughts...

In Business view you can create folder like structure and group all measures under one and dimensions into different folders like account_details, time_dimension and so on.

Hope this helps.

Thank you Ginny for your thoughts.

I will work with your solution of defining them as alphanumeric.

My last question is if we are using a business view, cant we define dimensions hierarchies?

Why we cant define any dimension hierarchy in business view?

Thanks,
Amarnath

You can define dimensions and measures in the Synonym Editor in Developer Studio. Click on the Modeling View Tab. Then from the Modeling View select Synonym -- Dimension Builder.

Do a search in Developer Studio help on Dimensions.

If you open a synonym you have an option of using the dimension builder,

but..
when you open a business view there is no option of dimension builder...

Can you check it once?

quote:

Originally posted by GinnyJakes:
My general and long-standing feeling is that if you are not going to do arithmetic with a field even if it has numbers in it, then they should be defined as alphanumeric.

What kind of file is this? Would this be a simple matter of changing the usage format in the master? Also there are tricks you can use in the master definition like using defines to get the fields in the formats most useful to you.

Just some thoughts...

This works generally, but think of a column like week number in year (i.e. values 1 - 52). It is a perfect example of a dimension rather than a measure, since you will never do any arithmetic with the field. But when you make it an alpha, it sorts incorrectly:

1
10
11
12
13
..
2
20
21
..
etc.

I really wish the tool would allow you to specify if a field is a dimension or a measure. In the meantime, do you know a good workaround?

NO, As of now didnt find any good workaround.

I think there needs to be lot of improvement on modeling the dataset from webfocus.

I'm not familiar with InfoAssist, so I don't know how much latitude you have in modifying the work flow. So this is a wild guess kind of idea. Is it possible to create a dummy master (with accompanying access file, if necessary) that has the desired columns defined in such a way (numeric versus alpha) so InfoAssist will correctly display them as dimensions and measures? After the user selects columns for the report, can you insert a procedure or some code (or use a LET) to point the query to the real master/data source?

Reply to gkoerk

Define your week number as A2 and use a function to insert leading zeroes i.e. 01,02,03,...,09,10,11 etc, then it sorts correctly!

Of course, for week numbers, sometimes you do want to perform arithmetic (number of weeks elapsed etc), so have both versions in your table and use whichever is relevant.

Is there any possibility on this or we good with all the possibilities?

This may be long winded, but it does work. If there is a field in your master like:

    FIELDNAME= WORKNR, ALIAS=worknr, USAGE=I11, ACTUAL=I4,
     TITLE='employee,no.', DESCRIPTION='employee no.', $

This will come up as a MEASURE.

Create a DEFINE:

DEFINE WORKNUM/A11 = FTOA(worknr,'(F11)','A11');
      TITLE='employee,no.', DESCRIPTION='employee no.',$

This will come up as a DIMENSION, but as a DEFINEd dimension, which looks ugly.

So create a Business View:

    FIELDNAME=WORKNUM, ALIAS=WORKNUM, $

This will show up as a true DIMENSION. Much neater.