Web Intelligence helps you retrieve company data with familiar business terms rather than technical code. It does this by using a universe.
A universe is a semantic layer that links business terms to data in the database.
A universe designer in your company creates universes with the Information Design Tool. They name each object with business terms you use in your daily work, such as sales revenue or customer name. They then make these universes available to you and others in your organization.
You can select the business terms you need to create queries and get data from the database.
The Components of a Universe
A universe has these components:
- Folders and subfolders organize objects into logical groups.
- Objects are elements in a universe that match the data in the database. You use these objects to build queries and retrieve the data you want to show in your report.
There are four main types of objects:
- A dimension is an object that represents descriptive, textual, or categorical data. You use dimensions to analyze and break down measures in documents. Examples include Customer name, Product, Country, or Date. Dimensions answer questions like "Who?", "What?", "Where?", and "When?"
- An attribute is a property that gives more information about a dimension. For example, if Customer is a dimension, Customer email could be an attribute.
- A predefined query filter is an object that restricts the data returned by a query based on specific criteria. These filters are created in the universe and can be reused in many documents. For example, a filter could be "Order date is in the last 12 months".
- A measure is an object that represents numeric data that can be aggregated, such as sums, averages, counts, etc. Measures are the values you want to analyze, such as Sales revenue, Quantity sold, or Profit. They answer questions like "How much?" or "How many?".
Let's Summarize What You've Learned
- Web Intelligence uses universes to let you access company data with familiar business terms instead of technical code.
- A universe is a semantic layer that links business terms to database data, created by a universe designer.
- Universes organize data into folders and objects, including dimensions, attributes, predefined query filters, and measures.
- Dimensions describe data, attributes provide details, filters limit results, and measures represent numeric values for analysis.