Creating Data Foundations

A data foundation defines a schema of the tables that contain the data business users need for their reports and dashboards. You can build any number of business layers on the same data foundation. In this case, the data foundation becomes the basis for multiple universes.

The data foundation does not duplicate the database tables. It simply references specific tables in the data source that the connection references.

Using the Data Foundation Editor, you create and enhance the data foundation by adding tables, derived tables, alias tables, calculated columns, joins, contexts, prompts, and lists of values. The availability of some features depends on the data foundation type.

The Data Foundation Editor is divided into a data foundation view and browsing panes. The data foundation view is a graphical representation of the tables and joins. In the data foundation view, you can work on tables and joins using commands in the Insert and Detect menus, or by clicking objects directly in the view.

To access a menu of commands that are available on tables, right-click the table header in the Data Foundation view. To select multiple tables, click the table headers while holding down the Ctrl key.

To access commands that are available on columns, right-click the column name in the table in the Data Foundation view.

A family allows you to define a certain color and font to associate with tables on the data foundation. This formatting can be helpful in easily identifying tables that have a specific relationship on the data foundation. Families are stored in XML format and can be imported or exported.

After the families have been created, you can associate them with one or multiple tables on the data foundation. To associate a family with a table, select one or more tables and then select the appropriate family in the drop-down list in the toolbar above the data foundation schema.​