Documentation
Entities, metrics and rules
Entities are the nouns of your business in the Knowledge Graph, such as customer, location, invoice, job, or employee. Metrics define what is measured about them and how it is calculated. Rules encode the logic and thresholds that make a number mean something. Together they are why two people asking the same question get the same answer.
How it works
| Layer | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Entity | A resolved real-world thing, matched across systems | Acme Ltd, one customer across CRM and accounting |
| Attribute | A property of an entity | Region, owner, payment terms |
| Metric | A named calculation with a definition of record | Gross margin equals revenue minus direct cost, excluding intercompany |
| Rule | A condition or constraint worth reacting to | Flag any invoice more than 30 days past terms |
How to use it
- Write metric definitions the way your team says them out loud, including the exclusions.
- Fix entity resolution errors at the entity, not in each question.
- Keep one definition of record per metric. If two teams disagree, name the second metric explicitly.
Entities, metrics and rules FAQ
What is entity resolution?
It is the process of deciding that records in different systems refer to the same real-world thing, so one customer with three spellings becomes a single entity with one history.
Who should own metric definitions?
The business owner of the number, usually finance for financial metrics and operations for operational ones. SIGNLD proposes a definition, a person confirms it.
Can I change a definition later?
Yes. The graph is temporal, so historical answers stay explainable and you can see when a definition changed.
Further reading
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