Managing Data Sources

How you manage data sources — who can access them, how models are built, and how end users explore data — is critical for both security and usability. The following topics provide a structured overview of how to configure and safeguard your data assets, while enabling powerful data exploration capabilities for report and dashboard users:

• Access Control to Data Models — how to manage who can see or modify data models and perspectives. This involves granting or restricting rights such as “view,” “use,” or “edit” on each data model or perspective. Properly managing access ensures that sensitive data remains protected, and that only appropriate users can build or modify dashboards based on specific models.

• Drill Hierarchies Configuration — how to define and manage hierarchies within data models for meaningful drill-down navigation in dashboards. With predefined hierarchies, dashboard viewers can “drill down” through levels of aggregation (for example: Region > Country > City) in widgets, making data exploration intuitive, consistent, and aligned with business logic. Administrators and designers can create, edit, or remove these hierarchies so that only valid drill paths are exposed.

Together, these aspects define how data enters the analytic workflow, who can design and view analytics, and how end users navigate and explore the data. Effective management of data sources ensures that your BI platform remains secure, maintainable, and user-friendly — critical attributes especially as the number of data sources, dashboards, and users grows.