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Choose a property’s role based on how people will use it in the model.

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Use a metric when

The property:
  • Represents a financial value, KPI, assumption, or driver
  • Is added, averaged, counted, compared, or calculated
  • Belongs in the values or line-item area of a financial table
  • Is a result you want a formula to produce
Examples:
  • Revenue
  • Cash Balance
  • Headcount
  • Units Sold
  • Average Salary
  • Gross Margin

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Use a dimension when

The property:
  • Names a category
  • Groups or filters other values
  • Identifies where a value belongs
  • Has items people use to break down a report
Examples:
  • Department
  • Legal Entity
  • Region
  • Product
  • Customer
  • Vendor
  • Account
  • Date

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Ask two questions

  1. Is this the value I want to measure?
  2. Or is this how I want to organize that value?
If it is the value, use a metric. If it organizes the value, use a dimension.

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Do not choose by data type alone

  • Employee ID may contain numbers, but it identifies employees and is usually a dimension.
  • Gross Margin is a percentage, but it is a calculated value and is a metric.
  • Date is stored as a date, but it organizes values across time and is a dimension.
  • Headcount is a count, not a list of employees, so it is a metric.

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A common ambiguous case: Account

A source Account or Account Code usually classifies transactions and is a dimension. A modeled line item such as Revenue or Rent Expense is usually a metric. If several account values roll into one modeled result, Account is the organizing dimension and the modeled result is the metric.