Metric Contracts

Define Exactly What The Metric Is Allowed To Mean

Expand a Metric Silhouette — Entity, Numerator, Denominator, Time Grain, Allowed Dimensions, Filters, Owner — into seven fixed fields. Overlay a second team's definition and see exactly which field doesn't line up.

Metric contract · Active Customers
EntityCustomer (billing account)
NumeratorCOUNT(DISTINCT customer_id)
Denominator1 — count metric, no ratio
Time GrainMonthly, as of last day of month
Allowed DimensionsRegion, Plan, Industry
Filtersstatus = 'active' AND churn_date IS NULL
OwnerFinance · Priya Nair

Silhouette locked — Overlay Definitions to compare against Growth's version of “Active Customers.”

Definition overlay

Same metric name, different silhouette

Growth's “Active Customers” outline doesn't match Finance's on three of seven fields.

Finance
  • Entity: Customer ✓
  • Numerator: COUNT(DISTINCT customer_id) ✓
  • Time Grain: Monthly ✓
  • Filters: churn_date IS NULL ≠
Growth
  • Entity: User ✗
  • Numerator: COUNT(DISTINCT user_id) ≠
  • Time Grain: Rolling 30 days ≠
  • Filters: last_seen_at > now() - 30d ≠
  • Create Metric Contract — start a new seven-field definition
  • Overlay Definitions — compare two teams' versions of one metric
  • Lock Metric Grain — prevent a grain change without review
  • Add Allowed Dimension — extend which slices are safe
  • Publish Contract — make it the metric of record
A Correct Query Can Still Produce The Wrong Metric.

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