When looking for answers to basic business questions, raw data cannot always help. For example, while a database might track dollar sales figures, sometimes this information is much more valuable with reference to more complicated calculations such as cost of sales or profit margin.
Administrators sometimes anticipate these requirements, designing the internal database structure so that it makes such calculations as the raw data is collected. But at times you might need information that no one has yet anticipated.
Computed data items are a means of generating new information, usually from data that is already stored in the database. If your database doesn’t offer particular information, use Interactive Reporting to compute it for yourself.