Measures are quantitative indices used to quantify the progress of a company towards specific goals. They focus on outcomes rather than inputs and enhance decision-making processes.
It is important to regularly assess your metrics against your desired outcomes and make adjustments. This can involve modifying objectives, refining measurement methods or even redefining metrics altogether.
Definition
The term measure is used to refer to the quantity of something. For example, you can take measures to determine the length of a room by using a ruler. You can also use a tape measure.
A measure is a function that assigns a real number to a set of sets in a space, satisfying certain properties. For instance, it must be non-negative and the measure of the empty set is 0.
It is also important to distinguish between metrics and measures. While both focus on raw data, metrics are more specific in terms of focusing on how you will get to your goal. This type of analysis is helpful for making strategic decisions and changes.
A measure space
Examples
A measure is a way to quantify something. It can be a quantity, such as a length or an amount of money. It can also be a comparison, such as the difference between two quantities. Measures are often used in data analysis. They help identify trends and patterns in a set of data.
For example, a measure of a program’s administrative efficiency might be the number of pesticide registrations that are completed within a certain time frame. A measure like this helps identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
In music, measures are represented by the vertical lines that separate sections of a song or piece. These vertical lines are called bar lines, and each one represents a measure. Musicians use them to keep their beat and stay in sync with each other. Without them, a piece of music would sound disjointed and difficult to read. Each measure is a specific length determined by the time signature of the piece.
Filtering
Measure filtering is a dynamic action. Whenever you change the view of your data, the measure filters are applied again. This can cause your analysis results to lose accuracy.
To filter measures, right-click on a dimension header or dimension member in a crosstab and choose Filter by Measure. This creates a new filter context for the selected dimension with your chosen measure as its operator. The target filter context cannot be the same as any other active dimension hierarchy level.
If you have a special filter along with a measure filter, the results of the special filter take precedence over the measure filter. This is because a special filter filters the data before measuring it, while a measure filter restricts the position of members after the fact. If you remove the special filter from the view, only the resulting positions of the measure filter display on the page edge. You can also use the right-click context menu option to clear a measure filter.
Formatting
A measure can have a dynamic format string, which is applied using a separate DAX expression. This allows you to adapt how the measure appears in visuals. This is a useful alternative to implicitly formatting numbers by using the FORMAT function, which can have performance implications for your model.
You can select a number format for your measure in the Formatting section of the Measure Tools ribbon. You can also define a custom number format in the Definition section. eazyBI tries to guess the right output format for calculated measures when you create them, but sometimes this fails and you need to choose a format manually.
You can use conditional formats for a measure, which can trigger changes to the display of the measure in tables and graphs. This can be based on the value for another measure, or a combination of conditions. Note that your own formatting changes for a measure can’t be overridden by other users who have their own formatting for the same measure.