Physical View

The basis of a data model is the physical view, which specifies a set of database tables and the joins that relate them. The physical view does not represent a particular query that retrieves specific fields, but rather outlines the full join structure that will enable arbitrary queries to be generated automatically when a dashboard accesses a set of attributes from the data model.

A physical view is not directly accessed by dashboard designers or end users. Designers and users have access only to the logical models defined from the physical view. (See Logical Model.) Your goal in creating a physical view is to specify the appropriate relationships between the database tables containing the data required by users. The following sections explain how to do this:

Physical views are independent of one another; that is, relationships in one physical view do not impact relationships defined in a different physical view. You can create multiple physical views from a given database, and it is common practice to model a single schema with multiple overlapping physical views. However, a given data model relies on just a single physical view.