Subject areas

Subject areas in Designer and Visualizer display the attributes and measures that exist in the data model for the space and are available for creating reports. This topic shows the two types of subject areas,

Default

The entire set of attributes and measures as defined in the model for the space. Space Administrators can see a diagram and manage the details. Select Admin > Define Sources.

Custom

A set of attributes and measures that a Space Administrator can specify. Select at Admin > Manage Access > Custom Subject Areas. We recommend that you provide report developers with a custom subject area. It should show only what is required for reporting, have user-friendly labeling, and can be restricted to certain groups.

How the subject areas use the model

Measures and attributes have relationships that are defined in the model. At the data store level there are joins between the tables. The model as shown in Admin is very informative, it can also become complex. Subject areas are used to simplify how measures and attributes are presented for convenience when creating reports.

How the subject area is updated

When an attribute or measure is added to a report, the subject area shows the remaining attributes or measures that are relevant to the selected attributes or measures. The attributes and measures that are not relevant are disabled.

When creating a report, we recommend that you start with a measure. When you add a measure to the report, attributes and other measures that are related to that measure are available in the subject area.

Similarly, when you add an attribute to the report, all measures that are not applicable for that attribute are not available.

To add two instances of the same measure to a Designer report. For example to show two different date aggregations of the same measure, add the first version of the measure. The other aggregations of the same measure are not available. Then add an attribute that relates to the first measure. The other aggregations are available again and you can add the second version of the measure.