About Data Models

When you use Interactive Reporting Studio to query a relational database and retrieve information, you work with a data model: a focused visual representation of the actual database tables

Interactive Reporting Studio users can create data models, selectively viewing and packaging the contents of a database for querying or distribution. Distributed or shared data models are beneficial for several reasons:

They substitute descriptive names for arcane database table and column names, enabling users to concentrate on the information, rather than the data retrieval.
They are customized for users’ needs. Some kinds of data models include prebuilt queries that are ready to process, and may even include reports that are formatted and ready to use. Other data models may automatically deliver data to users computers.
They are standardized and up-to-date. A data model stored in the document repository can be used throughout the company and is easily updated by the database administrator to reflect changes in the database structure.
Note:
You can only add create and modify Data Models if you have the “Data Model, Query, and Analyze” adaptive state.

A Data Model displays database tables as topics in the Contents frame. Topics are visually joined together like database tables and contain related items used to build a query.

Multiple queries can be constructed against a single Data Model in the same Interactive Reporting document file. If you modify the Data Model, any changes are automatically propagated to the corresponding queries.

In addition to standard Data Models derived from database tables, you can create metatopics—virtual views independent of the actual database. You use metatopics to standardize complex calculations and simplify views of the underlying data with intuitive topics customized for business needs.

If you want to preserve a Data Model for future queries, you can promote it to a master data model and lock its basic property design. This feature enables you to generate future queries without having to recreate the Data Model. An Interactive Reporting document file can contain any number of master data models from which any numbers of queries can be generated.