Space Properties

Properties are located either under the General or Advanced tab. The list below details the different properties in the order which they appear on the screen.

This table shows the properties that are available in the General tab.

Space Property Description
Name By default the name of a space is the name provided when the space was created. You can change the name here by hovering over the name and selecting the Edit icon.
Caution: 
Do not use ampersands (&) in a space name.
ID, Space ID The unique space identifier that was generated when the space was created. It cannot be changed. The space ID is in the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx where x is any hexadecimal value (0-9, a-f). The space ID is used for Web Services and when embedding Birst via an SSO URL.
Type The type of space, either Automatic, Advanced, or Discovery.
Logo Image

The Logo Image displays in the upper left corner of the Home page, Admin, and Designer for a space. Browse to select a replacement image and click Upload to add it. Click Save and refresh your browser to see the change.

Note: Click Reset Logo and Header Foreground/Background Colors to Default to revert back to the default logo image and colors. Click Save then refresh your browser to see the default logo again.
Email Address and Email Subject You can change the default email address and subject line for scheduled reports in the space. Changes here apply to new report schedules. Existing schedules will not be affected. For existing schedules, modify the Email Address and Email Subject fields manually in the Email tab of the Edit Report Schedule dialog.
Process Engine Version

The Process Engine is a component of Birst that handles the data processing that occurs when source data is pulled into the Birst data store (warehouse). The Process Engine is versioned separately from the main Birst application. Normally, the Process Engine Version can be a few versions behind the main application version.

Birst does not automatically upgrade the Process Engine Version. Space Administrators normally update the Process Engine Version when there are particular features that require a newer version, such as to support a certain database for the warehouse.

Caution: 
Always test a new Process Engine version before upgrading a production environment.

To upgrade the Processing Engine version, select one from the dropdown list.

Note: You can also use the Web Services methods getSpaceProcessEngineVersion and setSpaceProcessEngineVersion. See Web Services.
Enable Single Sign-On Birst can be embedded in external applications using single sign-on. Check this box to enable single sign-on for this space.

After toggling this option, click the Generate Password button to generate an SSO Password.

Note: By default the password is hidden. Click the Show Password button to view it.
Allow Usage Statistics Extracts Usage statistics can be available for the reports and dashboards in the space and for space usage in general. A Space Administrator can check this box to enable a space to have usage statistics extracted, but cannot run the actual statistics. You must be an Account Administrator to run usage statistics.
Use Dynamic Groups for Access

By default the space is enabled for using dynamic groups to control user access. You can manage users and groups dynamically if you upload a table of users and groups that defines which users participate in which group. See Dynamic Groups.

If you do not want to use dynamic groups, you can create standard static groups, assign users to groups, and assign permissions to groups from the Space Groups module, even if this option is enabled.

Map Nulls to Zero in Queries Enabling this property causes Birst to translate null values to zero values in queries. This is used for data modeling and does not apply to reports.
Production Space Enabling this property allows use of production specific features such as tracking key metrics.
Usage Tracking Enabling this property allows use of usage tracking specific features, such as the Usage Tracking task in Orchestration.
Asynchronous Extraction Enables a new queuing infrastructure for extractions to improve performance.
Asynchronous Reporting Enables a new queuing infrastructure for reports that are either scheduled, exported through the API, or are Designer/Original HTML5 Dashboards in Description mode. By default this is enabled. Access to this feature is enabled at the Account level.
Centralized Context Uses a centralized cache of your space's repository to improve consistency with loading times.
Centralized Query Cache Uses a centralized cache of your space's queries to improve consistency with loading times.
Database Links
Note: Database links is retired from Birst. If you need to join spaces located on different database instances, please contact Support.
Test Mode Enabling Test Mode limits processing to 10,000 rows.
Infor Document Management By enabling this feature, the system will create Birst Document Types in Infor Document Management (IDM) for notifications sent to users. Notifications will generate new reports or dashboards in IDM for users. Users assigned to the notifications will receive an email notifying them when a new document is created in IDM.
External Notifications Controls access to who can receive notifications from Birst. If the property is enabled, notifications can be sent to both users and emails. Users require a Birst user login for the space. Emails require an email address. If this property is not enabled, notifications can only be sent to users.
Comments This contains the comments that were entered when this space was created. You can update these notes.

This table shows the properties that are available in the Advanced tab.

Space Property Description
Maximum Number of Records Returned from a Query

The maximum number of records to return from a query against the data store (warehouse) is by default 10,000. Change this setting if you need to see more results, up to the maximum of 500,000.

Caution: 
This setting does not apply to Live Access queries.
Maximum Number of Failed Records Allowed The maximum number of failed records is by default set to 0, meaning that a processing load will not fail no matter how many failed records there are. If you set the value to 5, for example, this means five failed records will be allowed, and if more than five failed records are encountered, the processing load will fail.
Maximum Query Time

The maximum query time is the time that a query can run before it either completes or is terminated. If a query exceeds the time limit that is set, Birst terminates it. The setting is 300 seconds (5 minutes) for the Cloud environment and cannot be changed. In Appliance environments, the main AccountAdmin user can change this setting for a space.

If a maximum query time has been set at the database level that is smaller than the one set here, the database level setting overrides this setting.

Min/Max Years

You can set a minimum year and a maximum year for filters that use the built-in Time attributes and time series measures in the space.

The defaults values are -1 and -1, which means the default 150 year span from 1900 - 2050.

Best Practice: Change these values to match the time frame of your reporting requirements for the space. Restricting the time frame makes your reports more efficient and easier to develop. For example, if the source data for the space goes back only to the year 2000, you could set the minimum year to 2000, and you won't see previous years in the Time filters on a report.

Always On

Enabling Always On ensures high availability and simultaneous access to reports and dashboards while a space is processing. Birst replicates and creates a "shadow space" for this purpose. Because it replicates the data, Always On requires additional space resources.

By default Always On is not enabled for all accounts; it is an add-on feature for Advanced spaces. To get Always On contact your support or your Customer Success Manager. See Enabling an Always On Space.

Store Cloud Connector Config in Mongo Stores cloud connector configuration in MongoDB.
Convert Space to Metadata infrastructure Converts an existing space to use an upgraded infrastructure. The new infrastructure adds support for multiple Administrators working on the same data model. This feature requires Process Engine 5.22 or newer.
Push Down Expressions to Database If enabled, all report expressions for the space are evaluated in the Birst database. This setting is applied at the space level and is enabled by default for new spaces for more accurate results and improved performance. This feature supports all report expressions except those that include positional calculations and dimensional expressions.
Note: If you are using Smart Insights, you must disable Push Down Expressions to Database for new spaces.
Caution: 
If you have Push Down Expressions to Database enabled, Birst uses DB server time for queries, which is now set to UTC regardless of what you have set as the Processing Time Zone.
As Navigates

The "As Navigates" feature is an enhancement for Visualizer (and Designer) reporting that enables users to create a report that includes a measure in a logical query that only has grains available on a subset of dimensions that are included in the query.

This feature must be enabled for the account. To use the As Navigates feature, please contact your Birst representative to have it turned on for your account.

Lock Packages

You can lock packages in a space so that they cannot be deleted or modified. This lock applies to both parent and child spaces. It disables auto sync for the package definition. For example, if a package is locked in a parent space, then any child space that uses the package cannot remove it from their space.

Best Practice: Enable this option in production environments.

Automatically set date columns as "Analyze by Date" This setting determines how Date or Date and Time columns are handled in Birst. When enabled, any imported Date or Date and Time columns are marked as Analyze By Date and can be used as a date to analyze measures against.
Model Metadata Size Displays metadata size of your data model.
Metadata Builder Version Displays your space's Builder Version. Some new features will not work with older versions. In order to update your Builder Version, contact your Birst representative.
Column Level Security

Column Level Security allows admins to control the granularity of shared data across dashboards. Column Level Security has the following three security levels:

  • Display all columns in a report. This is the default. It will display all columns in a report even if the user does not have the column in their Custom Subject Area.
  • Hide only secure columns in a report. This setting will hide any columns in a report the user does not have access to in their Custom Subject Area. The user will only see the columns they have access to through their Custom Subject Area.
  • Hide entire report containing secure columns. If a report contains any columns that are not listed in a user's Custom Subject Area, the entire report will be hidden from the user.
Processing Time Zone

The processing time zone for all input files for the space.

You can change this setting even after the space has been published.

The Local Server Time is set to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time standard across all cloud applications, per an Infor standard.

Before data has been processed in the space, you can change the processing time zone for the space to your corporate time zone. This transforms all datetime fields in a file to the selected time zone. The difference between this time zone setting and each source's time zone (set at Manage Sources > Properties) is how Birst determines the offset to apply when loading datetime fields into the system.

Caution: 
You must log out and log back in to the application for this change to take affect.

See KB Article 2303325 for more information on the time zone change.

Caution: 
If you have Push Down Expressions to Database enabled, Birst uses DB server time regardless of what you have set as the Processing Time Zone.
Email Export Threshold When the number of cells in a report is greater than the Email Export Threshold, the Export As menu will display the Email Export option instead of Data to Excel to users with appropriate permissions. The default setting is 50,000 cells. This number can be increased up to 500,000 cells.
Bulk Import Batchsize This indicates the number of records in each batch. The default size of the property is 204800. The value must be a multiple of 102400. The maximum value is 2048000000. This property applies only to SQL Server spaces.