Dimensions and measures

Reports in Better Reports use two field types: dimensions and measures. Understanding how these work together helps you group and interpret data accurately. This article explains what each field type means, how they differ, and where to find them in the platform.

In this article

• Dimensions
• Measures
• Where to find them
• Need more support?

Dimensions

Dimensions are descriptive fields that group your data, such as Product name, Date, or Location.

They define how data is segmented in a report.

Common dimensions include:

• Date: group results by year, month, or day
• Location: group results by country, state, or region
• Customer: group results by customer type, company, or marketing state

Most fields can be used as a dimension, as long as they are available from the report's root table (the primary table the report is built from). For example, to calculate total sales by customer, you can use Customer Id or Customer Email as the dimension.

Reports often include more dimensions than measures, because data can be grouped in many ways, while analysis usually focuses on a smaller number of key measures.

Measures

Measures are numeric fields used for analysis, such as Total sales, Total quantity sold, or Average order value.

They represent what is being measured or calculated. Measures can be broken down by dimensions to show how values vary across different groups.

Common measures include:

• Total sales per product
• Average revenue per customer
• Number of orders per day

Measures help you analyse trends and performance across different dimensions in your report.

Where to find them

In the available fields pane, measures appear at the top (1), prefixed with the ∑ icon. Below them is the related tables section (3), followed by dimensions (2).

From the related tables section, you can use dimensions from other root tables in your report. Measures from those tables are not available.