Configure Breakdowns and Breakdown Sources
About 22% of the CIS-PA exam — see all 6 domains.
A breakdown lets you slice an indicator's scores along a dimension so you can see the same measurement split by category. For instance, the indicator "Open Incidents" broken down by Priority gives you open incidents per priority level, each tracked over time. Breakdowns are what make a single indicator answer many questions.
Breakdown sources and elements
- A breakdown source defines the set of possible values (the breakdown elements) along which scores are split, and how records map to those elements. The source typically references a field (such as
priorityorassignment_group) or a related table. - Breakdown elements are the individual values within a breakdown — Critical, High, Moderate, etc. for a Priority breakdown. Scores are collected per element.
- A manual breakdown lists its elements explicitly rather than deriving them from a field, useful when the grouping does not map to a single existing field.
Applying breakdowns to indicators
You associate a breakdown with one or more indicators (the breakdown matrix controls which indicator/breakdown combinations collect data). When data is collected, the system stores a score per breakdown element per period, multiplying the data volume — so apply only the breakdowns you need, since each breakdown element collected adds to the collection and storage load.
Breakdown relations and grouping
- A breakdown relation connects two breakdowns so you can view scores broken down by two dimensions at once (e.g., Priority and Assignment Group). This enables pivot-style scorecards.
- At analysis time you can group by breakdown (split the visualization into series/segments) and filter by breakdown (restrict to a single element). Distinguishing grouping from filtering is a common exam point: grouping shows all elements side by side; filtering narrows to one.
Best practice: keep the number of breakdown elements reasonable and avoid breaking down by high-cardinality fields, because the score count is multiplicative across breakdowns applied to the same indicator.
Sample questions from this domain
Three of the 64 in this domain, with the reasoning. The full set is in the question bank.
What does a breakdown allow you to do with an indicator's score?
- A. Split (group) the score by a dimension such as priority, category, or assignment group ✓
- B. Change the indicator to a manual type
- C. Email the score automatically
- D. Delete the indicator's history
Why: A breakdown splits an indicator's aggregated score into elements along a dimension (for example, by priority or assignment group), enabling group-level analysis. It does not delete history, change indicator type, or email scores.
What does a breakdown source define?
- A. The email schedule
- B. The dashboard layout
- C. The widget color scheme
- D. The source of the breakdown elements (the field or related list and table) that produce the grouping values ✓
Why: A breakdown source defines where the breakdown's elements come from, such as a field on a table or a related list, supplying the values used to group scores. It is unrelated to dashboard layout, color schemes, or email scheduling.
A breakdown mapping connects which two things?
- A. A user to a role
- B. A dashboard to a homepage
- C. A breakdown source to an indicator source, telling collection how to relate records to breakdown elements ✓
- D. A widget to a color
Why: A breakdown mapping links a breakdown source to an indicator source so the collection job knows how each record relates to a breakdown element (for example, which field on the facts table holds the grouping value). It does not map dashboards, colors, or users/roles.