This is part of the SAP Lumira Discovery blog series.
Custom dimensions and measures are like any other fields available in the data set, except that you create them yourself during design time without having to make changes to the backend. SAP Lumira Discovery allows users to create custom dimensions and measures on the fly; this is a pretty simple yet powerful feature. The ability to customize dimensions and measures at design time provides users the flexibility to play around with data to create insightful stories.
Creating custom dimensions and measures
Custom dimensions and measures can be created in several ways in SAP Lumira Discovery –
You can head to the below highlighted icon available in Data View or Design View to Create Calculations
You can also right-click on the dimension name in the panel that lists all the dimensions and measures available in the data set and then select Create Calculations
You can also right-click on the dimension or measure column in the Data View and then select Create Calculations
When you click on Create Calculations using any of the above options, an Editor pops up to,
- Create: specify whether you are creating a custom dimension or a custom measure
- Name: provide the name of the custom dimension or measure
- Simple Formulas: specify the calculation for the custom dimension or measure
Below the formula editor is a dropdown menu called Functions which lists a set of pre-defined calculations. There are a range of calculation options available. Each of these functions also have an explanation and an example to their right which makes customizing dimensions and measures much easier for users.
There is also a Dimension dropdown menu available which lists all the available dimensions and measures in the dataset on which you want to create the custom dimension or measure.
You can also use a function within a function to create custom dimensions or measures. Here, I wanted Customer Information in the following format Customer ID – Customer Name for which I have used the below mentioned formula –
Publishing to SAP HANA
When we use a HANA view as our data source, a new option called ‘Data Mode’ is visible next to the ‘Preview’ button. Data view displays all the dimensions in the data source along with the number of occurrences. We can also change this to display any measure of our choice.
When we create a new calculation in an SAP Lumira Discovery story, we may often need to reuse them in other stories. In this case we can export the manipulated data back to HANA and publish it to an existing or a new HANA view. To do this, head over to the File option and select Publish to SAP HANA.
This opens a new window where we can select the required HANA view and publish our data changes. We also have options to create a new view or package within this window.
The option to create custom dimensions and measures is an extremely useful feature and it is also easy to use. It allows users the flexibility to play around with data and publish the manipulated data back to SAP HANA. These options make it easier to customize dimensions and measures for creating insightful stories, or reusing them in other stories by publishing to HANA.
More details on the individual features can be found by clicking on the hyperlinks/title. This information is based on the current product and road map and is bound to change.
Interested to learn how to leverage SAP Lumira for your enterprise (or) train your business users in SAP Lumira Discovery? Reach out to us today.
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