Detail or Measure

[funkmonsteruk]

This is a general question, which i'm hoping has a relatively simple answer.

Basically i've created a universe based on a relatively complex database, within the database are tables covering such areas as bank account balances, transactions and of course a selection of personal details.

I'm a bit confused regarding the objects that refer to cash amounts - should i make them details (as they are refering to a figure in a table) or should i make them measures (as when i'm reporting on them i'm generally including some kind of sum eg: total of bank accounts or getting a sum from totaling transactions and subtracting any withdrawls).

Or does it actually matter???

Any viewpoints would be gratefully accepted

 

[blom0344]

Hello Funk...

First of all, there is no harm in defining an object twice , in this case as a measure and detail, just with slightly different name. This could lead to confusing with users though.
A typical detail is something like customername, if your system uses unique customernumbers. The name Smith is non-unique and it will probably be a fixed tag to a custno. A numeric field can be a detail, such as a polisnumber for a client. A rule of thumb could be that if you wish to do more than count on a numeric field, it would qualify as a measure.
However , the biggest difference is that if you set it as a measure you cannot use a "list of values" , but you can influence it's aggregating behaviour in designer (sum,count,none) This has the obvious impact on how this object will behave at report level.
Cash amounts should , i think, be measures. They are not a fixed tag on a dimension, they are liable to be summed, can not imagine you want a list of values on them.
Drawback is that once there measures they are not so nicely nested with the corresponding dimension they refer to as details are... T. Blom
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