analytics-dictionary / term / transformation & metrics

Dimension

A dimension is an attribute used to slice or group metrics, such as country, device or channel.

Written by Reflective Data experts · updated Oct 5, 2026

Metrics answer “how much”; dimensions answer “by what”. Revenue by country, sessions by device and conversion rate by campaign all combine a metric with a dimension.

Consistent dimensions across data sources are what make cross-channel analysis possible.

Metric Semantic layer Star schema

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LookML

LookML is the modelling language of Looker, used to define data models, dimensions and measures.

dataform.md

Dataform

Dataform is a Google Cloud service for developing and orchestrating SQL transformations in BigQuery.

dbt-snapshot.md

dbt snapshot

A dbt snapshot records changes to a mutable table over time, producing a history of each…

metricflow.md

MetricFlow

MetricFlow is the semantic layer technology used by dbt to define metrics and generate queries.

incremental-model.md

Incremental model

An incremental model processes only new or changed data on each run instead of rebuilding the…

omni.md

Omni

Omni is a business intelligence platform that combines a governed semantic model with flexible exploration.

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