Understanding Semi-Additive and Non-Additive Measures in Bold BI

Bold BI is a comprehensive business intelligence tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards and reports. One of the key features of Bold BI is its ability to work with different types of data measures, specifically semi-additive and non-additive measures. Understanding how to use these measures is crucial for accurate data representation and analysis.

Semi-Additive Measures

Semi-additive measures are a type of data measure that can be aggregated along some dimensions but not others. In Bold BI, users have the flexibility to define how semi-additive measures should behave when they are included in widgets. This is particularly useful when dealing with time-based data where you might want to sum values over a period but not across different periods.

For example, you might want to calculate the total sales for each month, but you wouldn’t sum the monthly totals to get a yearly total because it would be calculated differently.

To configure semi-additive measures in Bold BI:

1. Add your desired widget to the dashboard.
2. Drag and drop the measure into the value section.
3. Click on the settings icon next to the measure to open the configuration panel.
4. Select the appropriate aggregation behavior for each measure.

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the official documentation on Aggregating Value Columns Based on Type.

Non-Additive Measures

Non-additive measures are data points that do not make sense to aggregate. These measures are used as they are, without any mathematical operation like sum, average, etc. Bold BI allows users to work with non-additive measures by selecting “None” as the aggregation type.

This is particularly important for data that represents unique values that should not be altered, such as IDs, phone numbers, or other categorical data.

To work with non-additive measures in Bold BI:

1. Add the widget you want to use to the dashboard.
2. Drag the non-additive measure into the value section of the widget.
3. In the aggregation type dropdown, select “None” to ensure the data is not aggregated.

By understanding and correctly using semi-additive and non-additive measures, you can ensure that your Bold BI dashboards and reports accurately reflect the underlying data and provide meaningful insights.

Additional References

For further reading and to deepen your understanding of working with different types of measures in Bold BI, please refer to the following resources:

• Working with Widgets in Bold BI
• Understanding Data Aggregation