How do you distinguish additive, semi-additive, and non-additive measures in practice?

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Shahir

Updated 1 day ago in

While working with data warehouses and BI dashboards, I often see confusion around additive, semi-additive, and non-additive measures.

Conceptually, additive measures can be summed across all dimensions, semi-additive across some dimensions, and non-additive across none. But in practical implementations, especially in financial reporting, inventory tracking, or subscription analytics, the distinctions are not always straightforward.

For example:

Revenue is usually additive.
Account balances are semi-additive.
Ratios like margins are non-additive.

However, modeling and aggregation logic can vary depending on time dimensions, business rules, and reporting requirements.

I would love to hear from the community:

How do you explain these differences to business stakeholders?
What common mistakes have you seen when modeling these measures?
Are there real-world scenarios where the classification becomes tricky?

Looking forward to practical examples and insights.

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<p data-start="230" data-end="364">While working with data warehouses and BI dashboards, I often see confusion around additive, semi-additive, and non-additive measures.</p>
<p data-start="366" data-end="667">Conceptually, additive measures can be summed across all dimensions, semi-additive across some dimensions, and non-additive across none. But in practical implementations, especially in financial reporting, inventory tracking, or subscription analytics, the distinctions are not always straightforward.</p>
<p data-start="669" data-end="681">For example:</p>
<ul data-start="682" data-end="790">
<li data-start="682" data-end="712">
<p data-start="684" data-end="712">Revenue is usually additive.</p>
</li>
<li data-start="713" data-end="750">
<p data-start="715" data-end="750">Account balances are semi-additive.</p>
</li>
<li data-start="751" data-end="790">
<p data-start="753" data-end="790">Ratios like margins are non-additive.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p data-start="792" data-end="914">However, modeling and aggregation logic can vary depending on time dimensions, business rules, and reporting requirements.</p>
<p data-start="916" data-end="956">I would love to hear from the community:</p>
<ul data-start="957" data-end="1162">
<li data-start="957" data-end="1021">
<p data-start="959" data-end="1021">How do you explain these differences to business stakeholders?</p>
</li>
<li data-start="1022" data-end="1088">
<p data-start="1024" data-end="1088">What common mistakes have you seen when modeling these measures?</p>
</li>
<li data-start="1089" data-end="1162">
<p data-start="1091" data-end="1162">Are there real-world scenarios where the classification becomes tricky?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p data-start="1164" data-end="1215" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">Looking forward to practical examples and insights.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

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