A measure is a value that describes a standard of measurement used for evaluating data. It is a specialized form of a dimension in which no hierarchy needs to be defined, and no levels are used. Examples of a measure include: Sales Count, Profit, or Number of Employees. Measures have meaning only when used in conjunction with one or more dimensions. Let's assume we have a measure (say, for instance "Amount of Sales") which has a value of $300. This information is meaningless to us because it lacks the context needed to add that meaning. However, if we define our measure with two other dimensions, for example, Time and Store ID, we can now interpret the data as:
Amount of Sales = $300 for the month of September at Store #232.
With the addition of these dimensions, this information has a rich element of meaning for us.