---
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title: About Datasets
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version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/analytics/264-0-0/bi_integrate_datasets.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_datasets.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
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content_type: documentation
content_hash: 407e3473fac9b1c849a0c5b8771c906cffc32426760eb4b138334e210b27e8b1
description: A CRM Analytics dataset is a collection of related data that can be viewed in a tabular format. The data can come from many sources, including Salesforce objects, external data sources, and even other datasets.
products:
  - CRM Analytics
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# About Datasets

A CRM Analytics _dataset_ is a collection of related data that can be viewed in a tabular format. The data can come from many sources, including Salesforce objects, external data sources, and even other datasets.

- **[Columns and Rows in Datasets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_dataset_columns_and_rows.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    A dataset is analogous to a table in a database. It organizes data by columns and rows.
- **[Column Types in Datasets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_dataset_column_types.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Datasets support the following column types: dates, dimensions, and measures.
- **[System Columns in Datasets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_system_columns.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    System columns are dataset columns that don’t appear in the CRM Analytics user interface, such as lenses or Dashboard Designer. For example, to enable dataset security based on the Salesforce role hierarchy, the Flatten transformation generates columns that store the role hierarchy details. To prevent a CRM Analytics user from seeing and querying these columns, flag them as system columns.
- **[Denormalized Data](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_dataset_denormalized.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    The data in Salesforce objects is normalized, meaning that it’s stored efficiently in a collection of related tables to minimize redundancy, enhance consistency, and ensure data integrity. In contrast, data in datasets is denormalized, where it’s stored in an optimal format for querying. All the work required to combine the data from multiple sources is done ahead of time. The data is centralized, compressed, and ready to be analyzed.
- **[Dataset Security](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=analytics.bi_integrate_dataset_security.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    For each dataset that you create, you can apply security to restrict access to sensitive rows in the dataset.