Trend

The Trend function uses data recorded for certain time intervals to calculate and display the expected value of data for an unknown time period. This is most commonly used to predict future metric values based on historical data. For example, based on revenue data for three years, you want to predict what your Revenue will be for the coming year.

This function uses a linear equation to predict future values. Therefore, it is best suited to predict values that increase or decrease in a linear trend. For example, if your profits are increasing by $10,000 each year, this is a scenario that is well suited for a prediction based on a linear equation.

For a function that predicts values in a similar way for data that is increasing or decreasing exponentially, see GrowthV (growth, vector input).

Syntax

Trend <FactID>(KnownData1,...,KnownDataN, FutureTimeOffset)

Where:

KnownData1,...,KnownDataN are separate scalar values that provide the data to use to predict a future value for. While you can use Trend to enter these values manually, it is more common to use TrendV which can use a metric to enter a list of values, as described in TrendV (trend, vector input).

FutureTimeOffset is the point in time after the final time interval available for which to predict the data. This is commonly defined as an integer. For example, to predict values for the year 2009 when the last available data you have is for 2007, you would enter the value of 2 for FutureTimeOffset.

FactID is a parameter that forces a calculation to take place on a fact table that contains the selected fact.

Example

As described in the syntax requirements, you can use Trend to enter values manually. However, it is more common to use TrendV to use metrics and attributes to enter this information, as described in TrendV (trend, vector input).