Best Of

Featuring: Community Captain Leone Scaburri, Solution Architect—internal Center of Excellence for Professional Services, Board

If you have ever reviewed a Board cube and felt uneasy after seeing 128-bit sparsity, you are not alone. For many architects and modelers, 64-bit sparsity is perceived as the “safe zone,” while 128-bit triggers immediate concerns about performance, memory usage, and design quality. The instinctive reaction is usually the same: “How do we get this back to 64-bit?” However, that reaction, while understandable, is not always justified.

To truly understand whether 128-bit sparsity is a problem, we need to step back and reconsider what sparsity is meant to achieve in the first place—and what actually drives performance in Board.

Sparsity is a Consequence, Not a Goal

Sparsity is not a feature to be “optimized” in isolation. It is the natural outcome of dimensional design choices.

Every cube reflects a balance between:

• The number of dimensions involved.
• Their cardinality.
• The number of combinations that make sense from a business perspective.

When this balance is handled correctly—by identifying which entities should be dense and which should be sparse—the cube starts to resemble reality more closely. In some cases, that realistic representation naturally exceeds what can be addressed with a 64-bit pointer. When that happens, Board simply scales to 128-bit sparsity.

This is not a failure of the engine, nor an indication of instability. It is a supported and expected behavior.

What Really Changes Between 64-Bit and 128-Bit

A common fear is that 128-bit sparsity will dramatically slow down procedures, calculations, or screen interactions. In practice, this fear is often misplaced. The core engine logic does not change when moving from 64-bit to 128-bit sparsity. What changes is primarily the width of the internal pointer, which has an impact on memory footprint and, consequently, on pure runtime execution.

However, what truly affects performance is not the pointer size, but:

• How many combinations are actually stored.
• How many of those combinations are meaningful.
• How much unnecessary data the cube is carrying.

A cube with fewer, well-defined combinations, even if managed with 128-bit sparsity, will often perform better than a bloated cube artificially constrained to 64-bit.

The Hidden Risk of “Forcing” 64-Bit Sparsity

Trying to stay within 64-bit sparsity at all costs can be counterproductive. Common strategies—such as keeping high-cardinality entities dense “just in case”, avoiding sparse structures where they are logically required, and preserving combinations that never occur in real data—may may help remain under the 64-bit threshold, but they do so by inflating the cube with meaningless combinations. This leads to higher memory consumption, heavier size on disk, and ultimately worse performance.

In other words, forcing a cube to remain 64-bit can be far more damaging than allowing it to move naturally to 128-bit.

How to Design Cubes for Correct Sparsity

A healthier design mindset is to treat 64-bit sparsity as a preference, not a constraint.

The recommended approach is simple in principle:

1. Start from the business reality and identify meaningful combinations.
2. Apply sparsity consistently to entities that do not interact fully with others.
3. Reduce unnecessary dimensions and unused entities.
4. Observe the resulting cube size and data density.

If this process results in 64-bit sparsity, that is ideal. If it results in 128-bit sparsity, that is still acceptable, if the cube is smaller, cleaner, and more representative of actual data.

When 128-Bit Sparsity Is a Warning Sign

There are cases where 128-bit sparsity should raise questions, but the questions should be about modelling choices, not about the engine.

It is worth reviewing the design if:

• Many dimensions are rarely used or completely unused.
• Sparse entities were added without validating real data interactions.
• The cube stores a large number of empty or meaningless combinations.

In these situations, the issue lies in dimensional design, not in the sparsity level itself.

Final Thoughts

The concern around 128-bit sparsity often comes from treating it as a warning sign rather than what it actually is: a natural consequence of dimensional design. When sparsity is applied correctly, cubes stop storing artificial combinations and start representing real business structures. In many cases, this makes the model significantly more efficient, even if it moves beyond the traditional 64-bit range.

From a modeling perspective, this is the right trade-off. The real danger is not reaching 128-bit sparsity. The real danger is distorting a model just to avoid it, keeping unnecessary combinations or avoiding proper sparse structures. 128-bit sparsity is not something to be afraid of. It is not an error, a limitation, or a performance sentence. The real goal is not to “stay at 64-bit,” but to store only what truly matters.

So, the next time you see 128-bit sparsity, resist the instinct to panic. Instead, ask a simpler question: Does the cube reflect the business correctly? If the answer is yes, then the model is doing exactly what it should.

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📚New Courses launched this month:

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About this course:

This course introduces Board’s Solutions strategy and explains why it is critical to delivering faster, more consistent customer value. You learned how Board has evolved from a flexible platform to a solutions-driven approach, how Engineering, Platform, and Solutions work together to drive innovation, and how Solutions help Board teams engage customers around business outcomes rather than technology alone.

👥Target audience: Internal Employees and Partners.

Presales Fundamentals
About this course:

This new learning program is designed to strengthen presales capabilities across our teams and partners through two focused learning paths — Presales Foundations and Presales Soft Skills. Together, these paths build the core knowledge and interpersonal skills required to succeed in today’s sales and presales environment, ensuring participants are confident, prepared, and aligned to deliver high-impact customer engagements and effectively support opportunities throughout the sales cycle.

👥Target audience: New and existing employees and partners are encouraged to explore these courses.

Demo Portal Resources
About this course:

Your central hub for accessing demo materials, curated assets, and active demo environments designed to support your success. This space brings together everything you need to confidently prepare, customize, and deliver impactful demonstrations, all in one convenient location. Whether you’re exploring available environments, downloading the latest assets, or looking for guidance to enhance your demo experience, the Demo Portal Resources provide streamlined access to the tools and information that helps you stay ready and aligned for every opportunity.

👥Target audience: New and existing employees and partners are encouraged to explore these courses.

Instructor-led Training
About these offerings:

Whether you're beginning your journey or looking to sharpen advanced skills, we provide learning opportunities designed to help you grow and succeed in your role.

Our programs are delivered in flexible formats to suit your needs, including self-paced eLearning and engaging instructor-led sessions — available in-person or virtually through Board Academy – Live Trainings. Explore the available courses and enrol in a format that works best for you to continue building your expertise and accelerating your professional growth.

👥Target audience: New and existing employees and partners.

Click the below button to explore live trainings on Academy:

COMING SOON!

Introduction to Board: Analysis and Reporting
About this course:

This new course covers the same material as the Level 100: Foundations of Building in Board and is designed for new Board developers, power users, and anyone eager to explore Board’s front-end design. The content has been updated to be even more effective and engaging for learners from the original written video lessons in the Level 100 course and now features a fictional company, Northwind Traders, and its numerous fictional employees. This self-paced training will allow the audience to truly immerse themselves as they participate in hands-on learning where they will replicate each step in a virtual machine. No technical background is needed—just curiosity and a willingness to explore. 
This course is currently in UAT (User Acceptance Testing) and will be available soon with translation features.

Target audience: Board developers, power users, and anyone eager to explore Board’s front-end design.

Support Training Course
About this course:

A learning path designed to onboard internal Support employees that features introductions to support roles and responsibilities, guidance on the troubleshooting process, and walkthroughs of internal tools such as Salesforce Service Cloud.

Target audience: Internal Board employees on the support team.

We have more things coming your way from the Academy. Explore more enablement and learning resources at Board Academy.

March already? Time flies when you're busy building!
My mission for the next months is to:

• start finding even more intuitive ways to showcase the 'All-in-One' power of Board to our clients,
• stop over-complicating project scopes where a simpler, more elegant solution is more effective
• continue delivering the seamless Board experiences our customers have come to rely on!

We’re feeling very good about our Q1 targets. It's all about refinement right now rather than a full pivot, ensuring we're perfectly set up for a busy Q2.

If you’re looking for reliable, actionable guidance in the Board Community, Best Practices and How-to Guides are the place to start. Whether a guide is created or curated, it’s always reviewed and validated by Board’s internal Center of Excellence—so you can trust what you’re applying in your own work.

This year, we’re leveling up the learning experience by adding Build Along with Board videos alongside featured content. These walkthroughs are designed to reinforce the article and help you follow the workflow step-by-step. Six are already live, with more planned throughout the year.

Where can I find guides featuring Build Along with Board demonstrations?

💡Here are a few easy ways to find them.

➡️ New Build Along with Board videos are highlighted as soon as they become available in the homepage carousel. 👀Look for: *New—includes video demonstration.

➡️ From top nav, Resources > Recordings & Replays > Build Along with Board— will take you to a consolidated list of those published today. (Stay tuned for an improved experience on this page, coming soon!)

➡️ Table of Contents: Find the *Build Along with Board indicator in the Best Practices and How-to Guides lists.

• How does this enhance your learning?
• How could we improve the experience?
• What should we build along with next?
  

We're listening and building a roadmap around your feedback. Drop us a comment below ⬇️.

We’re excited to share the launch of the new Academy interface, designed to make learning easier, faster, and more intuitive.

What’s new:

• Seamless access to all learning formats On-demand courses, certifications, and instructor-led trainings are now accessible through a single, streamlined experience.
• Direct access to key resources Navigate straight from the Academy to the Board Community, Knowledge Base, and Support, keeping learning and help closely connected.
• New and enhanced role-based learning paths Learning paths are now organized by role - including Delivery (ProServe), Customers (End User, Power User, Administrator, and more), and Presales - helping you quickly find the most relevant content based on your level and goals. Additional learning paths will be introduced in 2026.
• Faster navigation to enablement content Quick access to Solutions Enablement, Version Release enablement, and Learning Paths helps you stay aligned with what’s new and important.
• Improved search and filtering Enhanced search capabilities make it easier to discover the right courses and content without unnecessary browsing.
• Improved interface design UX/UI updates improve usability and ensure a consistent experience across devices and screen sizes.

▶️ How to Navigate the New Academy Interface

Watch a short walkthrough video that provides detailed guidance on navigating the new Academy interface, including how to find courses, learning paths, enablement content, and support resources.

We encourage you to explore the updated Academy and share your feedback at academy@board.com. Your input helps us continue improving the learning experience.

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Board Certification Update

The Board Idea Exchange is where Board Customers, Partners, and Employees share ideas, provide feedback, and help shape the evolution of the Board platform. It’s a central space for proposing enhancements, discovering what others are asking for, and engaging with ideas that impact how you work. 

We built this portal to support open collaboration between our Customers, Partners, Employees, and Product Teams—and to make it easier for your input to be heard, understood, and acted on. 

What’s new in the updated Idea Exchange? 

The new Board Idea Exchange, available beginning February 2, focuses on clarity, relevance, and usability. Key improvements include: 

AI-assisted idea discovery 
When submitting a new idea, AI helps automatically identify similar existing ideas, making it easier to: 

• Avoid duplicate submissions 
• Add your vote or context to ideas already gaining traction 

Better visibility into your ideas  
You can now quickly find: 

• Ideas you’ve submitted 
• Ideas you’ve voted on 

Your contributions are easy to track in one place.  

Organization-level filtering 
You can filter ideas submitted by your organization, making it easier to: 

• Align internally on priorities 
• See what peers in your company care about 
• Coordinate feedback and voting 

What’s changed (and what hasn’t)?

• Hot Topics are replaced by an option to sort on Recent, Trending, and Popular.
  • Focused on helping you find relevant ideas through search, filters, and AI-powered similarity detection. 
    
• The core idea workflow remains the same. 
  • You can still submit ideas, vote, comment, and follow status changes via the Subscribe button found on each idea as ideas move through evaluation and delivery. 
    
• The current Community Idea Exchange is in ''read-only' mode until February 2, 2026
  • This means that you will not be able to post new ideas or comments to existing ideas as we prepare for the launch of the new Idea Exchange experience
    
• A new way to access the Idea Exchange begins on February 2, 2026. 
  • The new Idea Exchange will have two unique entry points—one customized for Customers and one for Partners and Employees—with a shared experience and combined search for all participants. 
  • To log into the new Idea Exchange, follow the navigation at the top of Community and log in using your existing Community credentials. 
     
  • Registration in the Community is required for Idea Exchange access.
  • Submitted ideas will now be listed under your profile in the new Idea Exchange. 
  • No new badges will be awarded in the Community for posting in the new Idea Exchange. However, existing badges earned in Community will remain as is. 
  • Search will now be unique to the Idea Exchange and will not return any results in Community. 

How do I submit an Idea?  

1. Open the new Idea Exchange using the link found at the top of the Community and log into the Idea Exchange.
    
2. Click +ADD NEW IDEA to submit a suggestion. 
3. Select a Product for your idea, choices are Board Planning, Foresight, Signals. 
4. Add a clear one sentence summary, any similar ideas will appear in the window below.  
5. Review AI-suggested similar ideas. 
6. Describe your idea, and upload attachments. 

Vote, subscribe or comment on an idea 

1. Click to open an idea and use the voting button to add your vote. Each user is limited to one vote per idea. 
2. On the lower left pane, view related ideas. 
3. At the upper right corner, click to subscribe and receive email notifications of changes in status. 
4. Click + Add a comment at the bottom to share your thoughts.
   

What do idea statuses mean? 

• Open for Voting – Newly submitted and open for feedback 
• Under Review – Has reached 25 votes and is being considered by Board Product Management 
• Accepted – Reviewed and under evaluation by the product team 
• Planned – Approved and scheduled on the roadmap 
• Shipped – Delivered and available to customers 
• Already exists – Functionality is available in the product 
• Archived – No longer active (see archiving policy below) 

How does Board decide which ideas move forward? 

Ideas are evaluated using multiple inputs, including: 

• Votes from the community 
• Alignment with customer needs and market trends 
• Product strategy and technical feasibility 

If an idea is archived, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t valuable. Ideas may be combined, re-scoped, or addressed as part of broader initiatives. You may see your idea merged with another idea, this allows us to combine similar ideas and add all the unique votes. 

For example:

Idea A – 5 votes from people (a,b,c,d,e) 

Idea B – 4 votes from people (e,f,g,h) 

After merging ideas A and B there will be 8 unique votes from people (a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h).  The vote from person e is not counted twice. 

How often are ideas reviewed? 

Our product teams regularly review and update ideas, with status changes shared transparently whenever possible. Community input is an ongoing part of how we refine priorities and plan future investments. When an idea reaches 25 votes, it will be placed Under Review and a response or clarification will be provided by the product management team resulting in the idea moving to Accepted, Already exists or Archived. 

If you have an idea that has been Accepted, this is not a guarantee that it will be delivered, or that if delivered it will match your suggestions exactly. 

Idea archiving policy 

To keep the Idea Exchange focused and usable: 

• Ideas with 10 or fewer votes that are older than six months may be archived. 

This helps surface the most relevant and actively supported ideas while maintaining visibility into past discussions. 

Your voice still matters 

The new Board Idea Exchange is designed to make your input easier to share, easier to find, and easier to act on. We value your feedback and encourage you to continue submitting ideas, voting, and engaging with the Community. 

Your ideas help shape what we build next. 

Notes on Idea Migration 

As part of the transition to the new Board Idea Exchange, we migrated ideas from the previous Idea Exchange with the following scope and considerations: 

• Only active ideas were migrated. Ideas that had already been archived in the previous portal were not carried over. 
• Original authorship may appear as “Guest” in cases where the user who submitted the idea is no longer an active community member. 
• Vote counts were preserved. All existing vote totals were migrated. 
• Voter attribution may be limited. In some cases, votes could not be linked back to currently active user accounts, though the total number of votes remains accurate. 

These steps ensure continuity of ideas and signal while aligning the new portal with the current Community membership. 

Great example of closing the feedback loop, exciting to look ahead to what 2026 brings 🙌