Measure health cards
Measure health shows whether a measure is ready to be used in fact tables and data marts. For every measure the system keeps a health card with the results of five automatic checks, and the overall status of the card is shown as an icon next to the measure name on the Measures tab of the RMD screen and on the other screens where measures are used.
A health card belongs to a measure in a specific project version; dimensions and facts have no health cards. The cards are filled in by the system only: they cannot be edited by hand and are not included in the RMD export.
Checks
| Check | When it runs | What it verifies | Result on a violation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name verification | Always | Name validity: the name is at least 2 characters long; spaces at the start and end are ignored. Duplicates by name: the name does not match the name of another measure, dimension, or fact of the project version, ignoring case and extra spaces | Error |
| Formula verification | Only for measures with the Active status | Errors in formula: the formula has no errors, including no references to elements with the Archived status. Circular dependencies: the fully expanded formula contains no circular references. Dependencies with errors: none of the elements the measure depends on at any level has a formula error or the Archived status, and none of the measures among them has the overall Error status. Formula warnings are not treated as errors | Error |
| SQL generation | Only for measures with the Active status | SQL for the measure can be generated the same way as in measure verification, but without verification filters: for every fact table that contains the measure or, if the measure is in no fact table, as for a common measure. No query is sent to the database | Error with the text of the SQL generation error |
| Potential duplicates | Always | No other measure is calculated with the same formula (ignoring the case of functions, spaces, and outer parentheses) or has the same fully expanded formula, with the formulas of the referenced elements substituted | Attention with the list of matching measures |
| Incomplete description | Always | The columns that describe the measure are filled in: Measure description (at least 10 characters long and different from the measure name), Display data type, Measure type, Formula (not empty, with no errors or warnings), and Status | Attention with the list of RMD columns that are not filled in correctly |
For measures whose status is not Active, Formula verification and SQL generation get the Disabled status.
Statuses
Each check gets one of the following statuses:
| Status | Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| OK | Green circle with a check mark | The check passed |
| Error | Red triangle | A problem was found that prevents the measure from being added to fact tables and data marts |
| Attention | Orange triangle | A remark was found; the use of the measure is not restricted |
| Undefined | Question mark | The check has not run yet ("The check has not run yet") or could not be completed because of an internal failure ("The check could not be completed") |
| Disabled | Pause icon | The check does not apply to the measure ("The check runs only for measures with the Active status") |
The overall status of the measure is derived from the statuses of its checks in the following order:
- Error — if at least one check has the Error status
- Attention — otherwise, if at least one check has the Attention status
- Disabled — if all checks are disabled
- Undefined — otherwise, if at least one check has the Undefined or Disabled status
- OK — in all other cases
When the checks run
The checks run automatically, so the health card follows the changes in the RMD:
| Event | What is checked |
|---|---|
| A change of RMD data: cell editing, inserting and deleting rows, changes through the public API | In the background after saving: the changed measures and the measures related to them — the measures that reference them in formulas and the measures with the same name or the same formula |
| RMD import from a file, version import from Git | In the background after the import: all measures of the project version |
| Closing the edit form of the Details from RMD dialog after the measure was saved | All checks of this measure |
| A re-run in the health card | Immediately: the selected check or all checks of the measure; the measures that depend on it are checked in the background |
| Daily scheduled recalculation, by default every day at 19:00 (UTC) | All checks of all measures in all project versions |
Notes:
- Checks follow the order of dependencies, so a measure takes into account the already updated overall status of the measures its formula references
- Until a background check finishes, the card keeps the results of the previous check
- After a check, the health icons are updated automatically for all users who have the RMD of that project version open
- New project versions and project copies are not checked when they are created: their cards stay in the Undefined status until the next daily recalculation or until the data is changed
Health icons
The health icon shows the overall status of the measure. It appears:
- On the Measures tab of the RMD screen, after the name in the Measure name cell. The icon is hidden while the cell is being edited
- In the Details from RMD dialog, next to the measure name
- In the formula builder: in the elements panel, next to the name of the measure being edited, and on the measure blocks of the canvas
- In the lineage and impact analysis diagrams
- In fact tables: in the selection panel and on the measure blocks of the Configuration section, and in the measure list of the Measures section
- In the data model: on the measure blocks of the Configuration section and in the measure list of the Measures section
- In data marts: in the selection panel and on the canvas
On the Measures tab the health icon replaces the former duplicate-name icon: duplicates by name are listed in the tooltip of the health icon.
Hovering over the icon shows a tooltip with the health summary:
| Part of the tooltip | Content |
|---|---|
| Overall status | The overall status of the measure |
| Problems | Checks with the Error status and their findings |
| Warnings | Checks with the Attention status and their findings |
| Unknown | Names of the checks with the Undefined status |
| Disabled | Names of the checks with the Disabled status |
Findings depend on the check: matching elements as "{Table}, row N", elements with errors, the SQL generation error, potentially duplicate measures, or RMD columns that are not filled in correctly.
Measure health card dialog
The Measure health card dialog shows the full results of the checks and lets you run them again.
How to open it — use the View health card button:
- On the table control panel of the Measures tab, when exactly one measure row is selected
- In the Details from RMD dialog of a measure
Top of the dialog:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Measure name | The name of the measure |
| Current overall status | The overall status of the measure |
| Last status update | The date and time of the last update of the card |
| Re-run all checks | Runs all five checks of the measure again and updates the card |
| Edit measure | Opens the Details from RMD dialog of the measure in edit mode. When the dialog is closed after saving, all checks of the measure are run again |
Checks table. The table contains eight rows — the five checks split into their parts:
| Check type | Check name |
|---|---|
| Name verification | Name validity, Duplicates by name |
| Formula verification | Errors in formula, Circular dependencies, Dependencies with errors |
| SQL generation | SQL generation |
| Potential duplicates | Potential duplicates |
| Incomplete description | Incomplete description |
The columns of the table are #, Check type, Check name, Last check, Last check result, Details, and Actions. Every column with data can be sorted and filtered.
- The rows of one check share its time of the last check and its re-run
- A row for which the check found nothing gets the OK result
- Details shows the problem that was found or, for the Undefined and Disabled results, the reason why the check was not performed
- RMD elements found by a check are shown as labels colored by RMD table (measures, dimensions, facts). Clicking a label opens the Details from RMD dialog of that element
Row actions:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Re-run this check | Runs the check the row belongs to again; the card is updated when the check finishes |
| View check description | Opens the description of the check: what it does, what can happen if it fails, and what to do in that case, with a Check feature / Details table |
If the card cannot be loaded, the dialog shows "Failed to load the measure health card"; if a re-run fails, "Failed to re-run the check".
Restriction for measures with the Error status
A measure with the overall Error status cannot be added to a fact table or a data mart:
- In the selection panels the measure cannot be selected, and the tooltip reads "A measure with Error health status can't be added"
- If such measures are still among the changes being saved, saving is rejected with the message "Measures with Error health status can't be added: {names}" listing the measures
- Measures that are already in a fact table or a data mart stay there and can be removed
- Moving a data mart measure to another fact table or to the common measures block counts as adding it
- If a data mart contains measures with the Error status, its view in the database cannot be created or updated; the message "The data mart contains measures with Error health status" is shown
The restriction uses the last saved result of the checks: while a card is waiting for a background check, its previous overall status applies. The Attention status does not restrict the use of a measure.
Roles
Viewing health cards, health icons and tooltips, and re-running checks are available to all roles, including Viewer, and do not require a valid license. Edit measure is available to the Developer role and above with a valid license.