How to: Specify Measures for a Cube

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Before you specify a measure in Microsoft Dynamics AX, you must decide the scope of the measure and where it should be defined. You can specify a measure the following ways:

  • On a field in a table or view in a perspective.

  • On a field in a table.

  • On an extended data type.

In order to specify a measure on a field in a table or view in a perspective, you must have already created the perspective. For more information, see How to: Create a Perspective for a Cube.

The following procedure explains how to specify a measure for a cube on a field in a table or on an extended data type.

To specify a measure for a cube

  1. In the AOT, select the extended data type or the table field to use to define the measure.

  2. In the Properties sheet, specify values for the following properties.

    Property

    Value

    AnalysisLabel

    An optional label for the measure. Only specify a label when the label supplied for the Label property is not appropriate.

    AnalysisUsage

    Measure

    AnalysisDefaultTotal

    An aggregate function that is used to aggregate the measure values.

    Note

    Count and DistinctCount are the only aggregate function settings allowed on String fields by Analysis Services. If you set the AnalysisDefaultTotal value to an unsupported value, the cube will not build.

    Note

    If you create a measure group by using a view, the relationship between the measure group and dimensions must be specified manually in Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) unless the view contains all fields of the backing table that are used to connect to a dimension.

    If you specify a measure on an extended data type, any table field that references the extended data type and has its AnalysisUsage property set to Auto will be a measure. You can override the settings for the measure on a table field. For example, you may want to change the settings so that the table field is not a measure or specify a different aggregate function for the table field. For a detailed description of the BI properties and their options, see Business Intelligence Properties.

    Note

    Microsoft Dynamics AX uses label translations to name the measures and dimensions of an Analysis Services project. The label translations that you provide are not subject to Common Language Specification (CLS) validations. A label translation may generate a dimension or measure name that does not comply with CLS specifications. An Analysis Services project that contains non-compliant dimensions or measures might not build.

    Note

    Local currency measures are used for currency conversion in multi-dimensional queries and should not be used for reporting.

See also

Cube Overview

Business Intelligence Properties

How to: Specify Dimensions and Attributes for a Cube

How to: Create a Perspective for a Cube

How to: Create a New SQL Server Analysis Services Project

Measures and Measure Groups (SQL Server Books Online)

Introduction to Cubes (SQL Server Books Online)