MicroStrategy ONE

Creating and modifying simple and advanced facts

After you have created a project, you can use either the Fact Creation Wizard, the Fact Editor, or Architect to create and modify facts in your project:

  • With Architect you can:

    • Create simple facts

    • Create multiple facts quickly

    • Add a large number of facts during project creation

    • Create simple and advanced facts

    • Edit existing facts and configure additional schema-level settings

    With Architect, you can support all of the simple and advanced fact features that are available in the Fact Editor. Rather than focusing on one fact at a time with the Fact Editor, you can use Architect to create and modify multiple facts for a project at one time. For information on how to use Architect, see Creating and modifying simple and advanced facts using Architect.

  • With the Fact Creation Wizard you can:

    • Create simple facts

    • Create multiple facts quickly

    • Add a large number of facts during project creation

    The Fact Creation Wizard can create multiple facts quickly and easily. However, it limits you to creating simple facts and does not allow you to edit existing facts. Typically, you only use the Fact Creation Wizard as part of the initial project creation, for creating most of the facts for the project. For steps to use the Fact Creation Wizard, see Creating one or more simple facts with the Fact Creation Wizard.

  • With the Fact Editor you can:

    • Create simple and advanced facts

    • Edit existing facts and configure additional schema-level settings

    You can use the Fact Editor to edit existing facts and create fact expressions, column aliases, level extensions; map multiple or heterogeneous columns; and configure other settings. The Fact Editor allows you to modify one fact at a time, which can be helpful when only a few facts in a project need to be modified. For steps to use the Fact Editor, see Creating simple and advanced facts with the Fact Editor and Modifying simple and advanced facts with the Fact Editor.

Creating one or more simple facts with the Fact Creation Wizard

Although the Fact Creation Wizard is primarily used to create most of a project's facts during initial project creation, you can use it at any time to create one or more simple facts at the same time.

To create facts with the Fact Creation Wizard

  1. In MicroStrategy Developer, log in to the project source that contains your project and expand your project.

    You must use a login that has Architect privileges. For more information about privileges, see the List of Privileges chapter in the System Administration Help.

  2. From the Folder List in MicroStrategy Developer, select the project to which to add additional facts.

  3. From the Schema menu, select Fact Creation Wizard. The Fact Creation Wizard opens.

    To use the Fact Creation Wizard to add facts, follow the procedures outlined in Simultaneously creating multiple, simple facts.

Creating simple and advanced facts with the Fact Editor

As your project evolves, you can create additional facts and modify existing facts with the Fact Editor. You can also use the Fact Editor to add extensions to those facts and configure additional settings within them to support various analytical requirements.

The following procedure describes how to use the Fact Editor to create a simple fact based on a single fact column in a table.

To create a simple fact with the Fact Editor

  1. In MicroStrategy Developer, log in to the project source that contains your project and expand your project.

    You must use a login that has Architect privileges. For more information about privileges, see the List of Privileges chapter in the System Administration Help.

  2. From the Folder List in MicroStrategy Developer, select the project to which to add additional facts.

  3. From the File menu, select New, and then Fact. The Fact Editor opens, with the Create New Fact Expression dialog box displayed on top of it.

  4. From the Source table drop-down list, select the source table for the fact.

    The source table is the table or logical view that contains the fact column on which you want to base a new fact.

  5. From the Available columns pane, drag and drop a column into the Fact expression pane.

    You can include multiple columns as well as use numeric constants and mathematical operators and functions to create a fact expression. For information on creating various types of fact expressions, see Mapping physical columns to facts: Fact expressions.

  6. In the Mapping area, select Automatic or Manual:

    • Automatic mapping means that all of the tables in the project with the columns used in the fact expression are selected as possible source tables for the fact. You can then remove any tables mapped automatically or select other tables.

    • Manual mapping means that all of the tables in the project with the columns used in the fact expression are located but are not selected as possible source tables for the fact. You can then select which of those tables are used as source tables for the fact. Other scenarios in which you should use the manual mapping method include:

      • If you are creating a constant expression that is not based on a physical column in a project table, you must select the tables for which you want your constant expression to apply.

      • If the same column name does not contain the same data across different tables, manually select the appropriate source tables for each fact.

        For example, suppose you have a column named Sales, which exists in both the Fact_Sales table and the Fact_Discount table. In the Fact_Sales table, the Sales column contains revenue data. However, in the Fact_Discount table, the Sales column contains discount data. In other words, although the column name is the same in both tables (Sales), the columns contain different fact data in each table. When creating the Revenue fact, you must select the Manual mapping method so you can select the Fact_Sales table as a source table for the Revenue fact. When creating the Discount fact, you must select the Manual mapping method so you can select the Fact_Discount table as a source table for the Discount fact. If you use the Automatic mapping method in both cases, the MicroStrategy SQL Engine may use the incorrect column for the facts.

  7. Click OK to close the Create New Fact Expression dialog box.

  8. Use the tabs of the Fact Editor to define fact expressions, create column aliases, and create extensions, as described below.

    For detailed information about the options on each tab within the Fact Editor, refer to the MicroStrategy Developer Help (formerly MicroStrategy Desktop Help).

  9. When your changes are complete, click Save and Close.

  10. In the Save As dialog box, navigate to the location in which to save the fact. Enter a name for the fact and click Save. The fact is saved and the Fact Editor closes.

  11. From the Schema menu, select Update Schema to update the project schema.

Modifying simple and advanced facts with the Fact Editor

To modify an existing fact with the Fact Editor

  1. In MicroStrategy Developer, open the folder that contains the fact to modify.

  2. Double-click the fact to open the Fact Editor and edit the fact.

You can learn how to create more advanced facts in the various sections below.

Creating and modifying simple and advanced facts using Architect

Architect can be used to create and modify simple and advanced facts in a visually integrated environment. Architect allows you to view the tables, attributes, attribute relationships, facts, user hierarchies, and other project objects together as you design your project.

With Architect, you can support all of the simple and advanced fact features that are available in the Fact Editor. Rather than focusing on one fact at a time with the Fact Editor, you can use Architect to create and modify multiple facts for a project at one time. Review the chapters and sections listed below for information on Architect and steps to create and modify facts using Architect: