Use a dimension to define contents of various reports?

Hello:

I have a question that is somewhat difficult to put in words, but I'll do my best to convey my thoughts.

I work for a health care company. For a few years now our company's data warehouse has served us well in meeting our reporting needs. In fact, only minor changes have ever been done to it since its initial release to production.  Our data warehouse is patient-centric. Patients are identified with various health conditions, and tracked as to whether the patient has been receiving appropriate care (which we call "measures"). Until recently, our company issued a specific set of reports -- i.e., we told the clients and physicians what WE will report. Other than identifying which patients belong to which client, and are attributed to which physician, no other differentiation has been required. But, that is no longer the case.

Recently, the types of contracts we've been arranging with various clients, and the growing diversity of our data sources, are driving us to customize reporting according to each client contract. Some clinical care measures are required to be reported to some clients, and not to others. Some of the measures that we've implemented within the past month are based on national standards (NCQA/HEDIS) and lack actionable information; consequently, there's no need to provide drill-down capability on such measures. As a result, I'm finding myself needing to revisit our data warehouse design to determine what changes might be necessary to better define the context of our "measures" as it pertains to reporting. Please note, I'm not referring to issues of security nor permissions to see data.

Has anyone ever defined a dimension or multiple dimensions to drive reporting -- i.e., what data should be displayed in various reports and excluded from other reports?

Thanks,
Pete

What you are describing is more a functional aspect of a system rather than an analytic one. While it may be possible to embed such controls within a dimensional model, it is more likely you need to treat this as a separate subsystem and take a more conventional approach.