MicroStrategy ONE
Understand How MicroStrategy Works with and Stores Data
All dashboards have specific business objects placed on them. These objects determine how your data is imported from your data source, how calculations are performed on that data, and how the results appear when each dashboard is run.
The following objects are used on dashboards:
- Attributes: An attribute is a business concept, such as Product, Employee, Month, etc. Attributes provide a context for metrics, which are business measures. See Introduction to Attributes for more information.
- Metrics: A metric is a business measure or key performance indicator, such as Revenue, Profit, Employee Headcount, or Probability of Purchase. Metrics are calculations performed on database data, the results of which appear on a dashboard. See Introduction to Metrics for more information.
When you import data into MicroStrategy Workstation, the corresponding dataset is stored with the dashboard. A dataset enables you to dynamically manipulate the data that appears on a dashboard, without having to import a new dataset. You can perform the following manipulations on the data in a dashboard without adding a new dataset:
- Add, replace, and remove data from visualizations
- Limit the display of data
- Create a derived metric based on existing objects
- Create a derived attribute based on existing objects
- Combine data from multiple attribute values into a single item
Different data source types can access data directly or from memory. See Define the Access Mode for a Dataset for more information about the difference between data access modes and choosing how a dataset accesses data.