Attribute elements: Data level values

Attribute elements are the unique values or contents of an attribute. For example, 2005 and 2006 are elements of the Year attribute while New York and London are elements of the City attribute. On a report, attributes are used to build the report and the attribute elements are displayed in rows or columns on the executed report.

Attribute elements also allow you to qualify on data to retrieve specific results. For example, a Customer attribute allows you to see sales data at the customer level and you can qualify on the elements of the Customer attribute to see sales data for groups such as customers with last names beginning with the letter h.

The following diagram shows some examples of attributes and attribute elements.

By recognizing and understanding the elements of an attribute, you can better design your data model and project. Although attribute elements are not included in the logical data model, they are necessary in understanding attribute relationships.

For a discussion of Attribute elements, see Unique sets of attribute information: Attribute elements.