Measures
A measure is the number a dashboard tile shows, such as the number of supporters you have or your total donations this year. Charts, cubes, tables, maps, and number tiles all display at least one measure.
Each measure combines:
- What you measure: a table, a variable, an audience, a FastStats selection, a behaviour, or an expression
- How it's summarised: a function, such as Sum, that turns the values of many records into a single number. Tables, audiences, and FastStats selections are always counted.
Measures and dimensions
Most tiles pair measures with dimensions. A dimension splits your data into categories, such as region or gift type, and the measure gives the number for each category. On a column chart, the dimension's categories run along one axis and the measure sets the height of each column.
A number tile has a measure but no dimension, so it shows a single figure.
What you can measure
You choose what to measure in the same search dialogue you use across Orbit. See Searching in Orbit, which also lists the types of variables.
| Measure | What the tile shows |
|---|---|
| A table | The number of records in the table, such as people or donations |
| A numeric or currency variable | A summary of the variable's values, such as the total or average donation amount |
| An audience | The number of records in the audience |
| A FastStats selection | The number of records in the selection |
| A behaviour | Recency, frequency, or value statistics for your contacts, summarised with a function |
| An expression | A value you calculate for each record with a FastStats expression, then summarise with a function |
Not every tile type accepts every kind of measure. For example, you can't use a behaviour as a measure on a Venn tile.
To add a measure to a tile, see the page for your tile type in Tile types. For each measure's settings, see Measure settings.
Functions
A function summarises the values of many records into the single number shown in each cell, column, or tile.
For a whole table, the function is always Count. For a numeric or currency variable, or an expression, choose the function that answers your question from the Function dropdown:
| Function | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Sum | The total of all values |
| Mean | The average value |
| Variable Count | The number of records with a value, ignoring missing values |
| Minimum | The smallest value |
| Maximum | The largest value |
| Median | The middle value, when the values are sorted |
| Mode | The most common value |
| Variance | How widely the values are spread around the mean |
| Standard Deviation | The square root of the variance, in the same units as the values |
| Lower Quartile | The value a quarter of the way through the sorted values |
| Upper Quartile | The value three quarters of the way through the sorted values |
| Inter Quartile Range | The difference between the upper and lower quartiles |
| Count Distinct | The number of different values |
When you add a behaviour as a measure, you also choose a function to summarise it.
Combining measures
To show a ratio or a difference, such as the average amount given per supporter, combine two measures in a calculated measure. A calculated measure adds, subtracts, multiplies, or divides two measures to give one result.
For a calculation that two measures can't express, use an expression measure.
Putting it together
One dashboard often uses several kinds of measure side by side.
Example use case
A fundraising team builds a dashboard with four number tiles:
- Supporters: the People table, which counts every supporter
- Total donations: the Donation Amount variable, with the Sum function
- Lapsed supporters: the team's Lapsed Supporters audience
- Average per supporter: a calculated measure dividing total donations by the number of supporters
Measures in audience workbooks
You also use measures in the cubes and charts in your audience workbooks. See Working with measures and Charts in audiences.