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A semantic model turns a physical data source into a business structure that people and tools can query. The current system supports two model types:

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Model lifecycle

  • Draft: an editable version. Workspace changes are saved automatically.
  • Published: a version that passed model quality checks and was published. Queries and metrics use the published version.
  • Archived: no longer used as the current asset.
Models can be assigned to business domains. Workspace members inherit access from those domains, and Access control shows the effective access.

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Relational model objects

  • Fact table: the main table used to aggregate a cube.
  • Measure: an aggregatable numeric column, such as order amount, with a source column, data type, aggregation, and format.
  • Dimension: a business object used to slice facts, such as customer, product, or time.
  • Hierarchy: a navigation path inside a dimension.
  • Level: a granularity in a hierarchy, such as year, month, or day.
  • Calculated member: a field calculated from an expression in a cube.

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XMLA model objects

An XMLA model keeps the remote cube, dimensions, hierarchies, levels, measures, and SAP variables. After a structure refresh, bindings are marked Valid or Missing. Missing bindings must be fixed before publishing or running metrics.

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Query and publishing boundaries

The query workspace runs read-only queries for the selected model. SQL models use SQL and XMLA models use MDX. Metric queries also require both the metric and its model to be published; saving a draft does not change live results. Start with Managing semantic models and Semantic model workspace.