M3 Analytics components
This topic describes the basic components of M3 Analytics to help you search for and navigate to the information that you need.
Business Measurement Models (BMMs)
BMMs extract and transform the source data into an analytical data model that contains fact tables and dimension tables.
The resulting star schema can be analyzed as is or be used as source for an OLAP cube.
Reports
M3 Analytics provides Visualizer reports that display a trend for a single KPI, and reports that allow the user to analyze one or several metrics in a chart or a table. Reports showing a trend for a single KPI are referred to as KPI charts and are designed to be used with a dark background. Reports are named according to the displayed KPI and display trend over a month or period.
M3 Analytics leverages Birst column selectors for attributes and measures to add flexibility and additional options for analysis.
Dashboards
Dashboards enable a single view of several KPIs that are relevant to a specific business process. They present varied information such as summaries, key trends, comparisons, and exceptions through charts and tables with metrics.
The dashboards delivered in M3 Analytics are designed to cover a business process within a single domain in a company, as well as cover a specific topic within a domain in the company. Several dashboards in the Finance, Sales, Procurement, Warehouse, Quality Management, Production, Rental, and Equipment domains are designed based on this logic.
Dashboards are built up by a number of dashlets. A dashlet can be a KPI object, a KPI chart, or any other type of report. A KPI object is usually enhanced with a KPI chart, placed together on a dashboard, which gives the impression of a single object. Color is used to emphasize and group different KPIs together.
Each dashboard is delivered with a set of filters that enables the user to drill in to the data presented in the various reports on the dashboard. Filters based on conformed dimensions are shared across dashboards.
M3 Analytics also offers a guided ad hoc dashboard over a single model. This exemplifies a dynamic approach to reporting where selection of measures and attributes is available in different filters.
