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Glossary
MicroStrategy Functions Reference
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Glossary: attribute form
© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.
attribute form One of several columns associated with an attribute that are
different aspects of the same thing. ID, Name, Last Name,
Long Description, and Abbreviation could be forms of the
attribute Customer. Every attribute supports its own
collection of forms.
banding A method of organizing values according to a set of
descriptive or meaningful data ranges called buckets. For
example, customers in the age ranges of 10–20, 21–30, and
31–40, where each set of ages is a band. Banding is also used
for display purposes, where every other row is a different
color and the two colors alternate. Compare consolidation.
break by An attribute or hierarchy where calculations for an OLAP
function restart. To break by an attribute or hierarchy means
to restart calculations that use OLAP, or Relative, functions
when the analytical engine reaches the next instance of the
specified attribute or hierarchy. Examples of OLAP functions
include RunningStdevP, Rank, NTile, and various
expressions that calculate percent values. To break by an
attribute or hierarchy in an expression, you must set the
BreakBy parameter.
compound metric A type of metric defined by a formula based on arithmetic
operators and non-group functions. Arithmetic operators are
+, -, *, and /; non-group functions are OLAP and scalar
functions such as running sum or rank. The operators and
functions can be applied to facts, attributes, or metrics.
Examples are RunningAvg(Cost_Metric) and
Sum(Cost_Metric) + Sum(Profit_Metric).
configuration objects A MicroStrategy object appearing in the system layer and
usable across multiple projects. Configuration objects include
(among others) these object types: users, database instances,
database logins, schedules.
custom group An object that can be placed on a template and is made up of
an ordered collection of elements called custom group
elements. Each element contains its own set of filtering
qualifications.
