Operational Data · Track 3 · Tutorial 4 of 7

Choose how a model’s metrics total

A quarter of units sold is three months added together; a quarter of headcount is not. Each metric of a model says how its months combine, and a formula metric is worked out only after the figures are totalled.

You will needAn Administrator or Data Loading Admin of Your Group on the Premium edition or the trial, the Units and revenue model from Build a custom model, and the Headcount dataset from Choose the period weighting: Sum or Last Period.

By the endHeadcount read as its last month, Units sold added up, and Revenue per unit worked out from the totals.

1Know how months combine

A model holds monthly figures. When a report or dashboard reads a quarter or a year, each metric’s weighting decides how its months become one figure.

Weighting	How the months combine	Use it for
Sum	Added together.	Flows: units sold, revenue, hours.
First period	The first month’s figure.	An opening position.
Last period	The last month’s figure.	Positions: headcount, customers at month end.
Average	Averaged.	A level that should be read as typical.
Weighted	Each month weighed by another linked metric: Σ value × weight ÷ Σ weight.	A ratio held as a figure, such as an average position weighed by impressions.

2Set a position to Last period

Open the Units and revenue model, add the Headcount dataset of Company A as a source, and add a metric named Headcount fed by its Value.
Click the Headcount metric. In the panel, set Weighting to Last period.
Set Format to Number and Decimals to 0.

The metric panel for Headcount: a linked metric fed by the Value of the Headcount dataset, totalled by Last period, with Number format and 0 decimals — What feeds the metric (1), Last period (2), and the format and decimals (3).

A new linked metric starts on Sum. The dataset’s own Period Weighting is not carried into the model: set it on the metric. See Choose the period weighting: Sum or Last Period.

3Weigh a ratio by what it is earned on

For a ratio held as a figure, set Weighting to Weighted.
In Weighed by, choose the linked metric each month is weighed by.

The Search traffic vs revenue template sets this up for you: CTR and Average position are each weighed by Impressions, so a quarter’s CTR is not the average of three months’ CTRs. A formula metric can’t be chosen as the weight.

4Let a formula decide

Click Revenue per unit. Its Weighting is Default.
Set Format to Currency and Decimals to 2.

The metric panel for Revenue per unit: a formula metric of Revenue divided by Units sold, with Weighting left on Default and Currency format — The formula, Revenue divided by Units sold (1), Weighting left on Default (2), and Currency with 2 decimals (3).

A formula is worked out after its metrics are totalled. On Default, a formula is weighed by what it divides by, adds up when every term totals the same way, and is averaged otherwise. So a quarter’s revenue per unit is the quarter’s revenue over the quarter’s units, not an average of three monthly ratios.

If the panel says Check how this metric totals, the formula doesn’t show which rule its months combine by. Choose one.

5Save and check

Click Save, wait for Up to date, and click View. Read a quarter.

Check

For the quarter, Units sold is the three months added together, Headcount is the last month’s figure, and Revenue per unit is the quarter’s Revenue divided by its Units sold.

6If something goes wrong

What you see	What to do
A quarter of headcount is three times too big	The metric is on Sum. Set Last period.
Weighed by lists nothing	Add the linked metric to weigh by first. A formula can’t be a weight.
The panel warns a line looks like a total	A total and its own lines both feed the metric, so the same money is counted twice. Unlink one.
A metric shows too many or too few decimals	Set Decimals on the metric, from 0 to 6.

Want more detail? See the documentation

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