Clicking on the link for either Actual or Target in the Data Mappings
column brings up the Dimension Data Source Mapping dialog box. Shown in
Figure 5-14, this dialog box allows developers to choose an existing measure and
optionally filter that value based on selections from different dimensions. Note that
in Figure 5-14, the selections would filter the Sales Amount Quota to bikes sold in
Arizona. While this is certainly possible, it??™s more likely that just the measure will
change and will be pointed to a quota or forecasted amount, such as the Sales Quota
chosen earlier. It??™s often better to filter the data later for the entire scorecard. This
will be examined later in the chapter.
Next, the wizard allows users to add a time filter formula. This can be useful when
a forecast value doesn??™t exist in the data source, but the developer wants to use a
prior period. In such a case, a formula could be entered that would read the measure
from a prior period, such as the time period in the previous year from whatever date
is currently being viewed. A further and more detailed option on the screen is to use
an MDX formula. Multidimensional Expressions, or MDX, is the language used to
access Analysis Services, just as Structured Query Language, or SQL, is the language
used to access relational data. While beyond the scope of this book, an understanding
102 B u s i n e s s I n t e l l i g e n c e w i t h M i c r o s o f t O f f i c e P e r f o r m a n c e P o i n t S e r v e r 2 0 0 7
of MDX would allow the developer to set targets such as a fixed 10% growth over the
previous year and filter based on any combination of dimensions and measures.
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