What is a measure?
A measure is one unit of calculation. It does not require composing multiple named measures in a formula. Typical operations include count, count distinct, max, min, and average.
Example: Headcount as count distinct of employee ID—go to the data, take the employee ID column, and count unique values.
For how measures differ from metrics, see Understanding the analytic data dictionary.
Before you start
Ontology data for the population you care about must be loaded and trustworthy. See Understanding Ontology.
Know which field identifies people uniquely when you need distinct headcount (commonly employee ID).
Create or configure a measure
Open Analytics → Manage Analytics.
Open the Measures area
Create or edit a measure and set
Name (and description if available)
Aggregation — for example, count distinct, average, min, max
Field — the column to aggregate (for example, employee ID for headcount)
Optionally add a filter so only matching records are included in the calculation.
Save the measure.
Filters on measures
Without a filter, the measure uses any matching records in scope. With a filter, you narrow the population.
Example — active and leave headcount: Count distinct employee ID where status is Active or On Leave. That measure is specifically “active + leave” headcount, not every historical status.
Example — active only: Same aggregation, filter status = Active only.
Different headcount definitions are usually different measures (or the same measure with different filters), so boards and stories stay explicit about what they count.
Distinct vs duplicate rows
If the same person appears more than once in the underlying data (for example, multiple positions), a non-distinct count can be higher than distinct people.
Example: Someone works Monday as cashier and Tuesday as ticket taker—counting positions may double-count; counting distinct employee IDs counts one person.
Use count distinct on employee ID when the business question is “how many people?”
Use measures in metrics and stories
Metrics reference measures in formulas (for example, exits ÷ population). See
Stories pick a measure (or metric) as the calculation to visualize.