Talis Decisions: InfoView and Web Intelligence

Transcription

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2 safsdfsdkjafdsajf dajf lkasdj flkasdjfadsfasdfffsdakfjsdakjfaalto Education Talis Services Contents 1. Introducing Talis Decisions What is Talis Decisions? The Product Suite Accessing information with Talis Decisions Architecture Understanding the semantic layer Querying with InfoView/Web Intelligence Aggregation Getting started with InfoView Logging on Rights The Home Page Accessing objects Folders: Categories: Managing objects Uploading Agnostic documents and Adding Hyperlinks Shortcuts Viewing a Web Intelligence document Parts of a Web Intelligence and Desktop Intelligence document Discussions Logging off InfoView Customising InfoView Customising InfoView options General tab Web Intelligence Document tab Desktop Intelligence tab Password tab Creating a dashboard Creating Web Intelligence Documents The Report Panel Creating a new document Saving a new document Modifying a document s query Working with the Edit Query View Query Manager pane Building a query... 39

3 5. Restricting the Data Returned Restricting data with Query Filters Using predefined filters Applying a single-value and multi-value filters Using Prompted filters Using Objects as operands Using complex filters Prompt order Report Design in the Edit Report View Edit Report View Document Pane Report Manager Toolbars General Toolbar Reporting Toolbar Formatting Toolbar Page Navigation Toolbar Managing Reports The Document Properties Panel Displaying data in tables and charts Creating tables Adding data to tables Creating Free Standing Cells Creating charts Enhancing Reports Breaks Calculations Sorts Report Filters Ranking Alerters Alerter Formatting Sections Formatting Reports Report Properties Header/Footer Properties Section Properties Table Properties Column/Row Properties Cell Properties Chart Properties Talis Education Page 3

4 8.8 Number Formatting Cutting and pasting into other documents Formulas and Variables Formula Editor Synchronising Data Some rules about synchronising with merged dimensions Drilling Sharing Objects and Documents Sending documents to BusinessObjects Inboxes Sending documents to accounts Scheduling a Web Intelligence document Miscellaneous Timeouts Shortcuts Templates Desktop Intelligence Appendix One Web Intelligence Formula Functions Talis Education Page 4

5 1. Introducing Talis Decisions 1.1 What is Talis Decisions? Talis Decisions is web-based tool to produce data for decision support and performance management. The following can be done: Analyse performance and trends. Create powerful dashboards. Analyse data in different ways. Present reports in various formats. Distribute and schedule reports. Create ad-hoc reports. Talis Decisions allows reports to be created and modified quickly using business defined objects. It is an interface between users and the database. It hides the complexity of the SQL required to retrieve the data from the Alto database. Not covered by this course Working in Interactive View Advanced reporting Events and Calendars System configuration and management 1.2 The Product Suite Talis Decisions is made up of various components: InfoView This is a portal to view objects. It is also possible to refresh and distribute documents. It is also possible to schedule objects to be refreshed. It is possible to access Web Intelligence from InfoView. Web Intelligence This is a web-based document creation tool that uses universes to retrieve data from the Alto database. It allows a user to format data in multiple ways and formats to produce documents. Desktop Intelligence This is a client-based document writing tool. It was previously known as BusinessObjects Reporter or the Full Client. Not covered in detail in the course in detail. The logic is similar in the two products so any discussion will focus on the differences. Designer This is a client-based tool for creating and loading universes. Not covered in the course. Talis Education Page 5

6 Central Management Console (CMC) This is a web-based tool for administering the system. Not covered in the course. 1.3 Accessing information with allows you to access the Alto database using everyday business terms and uses a Thin Client in a web browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox using Java). The browser connects to the Talis Decisions Server which contains a web application server (Tomcat). The web application server and the BusinessObjects software send queries to the Alto database on the MIS server. The data is then sent back through the Decisions Server to the browser. The output format can be modified or exported to other tools The Decisions Server can also distribute reports to other Decisions users or to addresses. These documents and other objects can be organised in public and personal folders and categories as required. It is also possible to tie discussion threads to specific reports so you have a history about the document or report. 1.4 Talis Decisions Architecture Talis Decisions is powered by BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2 SP1. Talis Education Page 6

7 1.5 Understanding the semantic layer A semantic layer isolates a user from the physical structure of the database they wish to use and from the SQL needed to retrieve the data. There is no need to know how or where the data is stored in the database. Business terminology familiar to the user is used to describe objects that can be selected. Talis Decisions uses universes of objects that are mapped to the relevant attributes in the alto database (prod_talis). These objects are given familiar names e.g. borrower type or item type. There are three types of objects in a universe: Dimensions ( ) A dimension object is typically textual information by which users analyse numeric measures. Details ( ) A detail object provides additional information about a particular dimension. Measures ( ) A measure is a number that users wish to analyse. Objects can be grouped together in classes ( ). As well as creating reports objects can also be used as conditions to limit the date returned. Preset conditions ( ) can also be created for users to select. Show examples in the Circulation universe. There are nine universes: Circulation Cataloguing Inter-library Loans Orders Reservations Standing Orders 1.6 Querying with InfoView/Web Intelligence Subscriptions Loan Aggregates Income Manager By selecting objects within a universe you can create a query in the query panel and then run it. The Decisions Server converts the query to SQL. This SQL is run against the database and then the results are returned to the Decisions Server. The Decisions Server then generates the formatted report and sends the report pages to the workstation to be displayed. Talis Education Page 7

8 The report can contain tables and charts from single or multiple queries. These queries can be from other universes. It is also possible to join two separate queries together. The queries return the data in microcubes, one for each query, which can then be manipulated within a document. A document may make use of some or all of the data within the microcube. The microcube allows for drilling and slicing and aggregation in the results. The microcube also means that it is not necessary to go to the database to rerun the query for every change. You might have: One query One data set One report with a single view of the data. One query One data set Multiple reports with different views of the data Multiple queries Multiple queries Multiple datasets Multiple datasets One report Multiple report with different views of the data Desktop Intelligence is similar however the report generation and effort is done within the client software i.e. on the PC running Desktop Intelligence and not on the Decisions Server. The Decisions server is still required for accessing the system database for authentication and rights management. 1.7 Aggregation One of the benefits of using a microcube of data is, that where measure objects are selected, it is possible for results to be aggregated. This means that the results the measure object displays will relate to the objects it is selected with. For example the table below shows the number of issues/renewals by loan type and item type. The three columns relate to three objects that were selected from the Loan Aggregates universe. The Total issues/renews column is a measure object. If the Loan Types column is removed the row figures are recalculated to reflect the change but the total remains the same. If the Item types column is removed then a similar effect is seen. Talis Education Page 8

9 If the only the Total issues/renews object is displayed then the display matches the sum of the issues/renews from the other displays. All four examples were taken from the data returned from one query and there was no need to go back to the database in each case. In fact all four views could be included in the same report. WARNING: There can be issues with aggregation for particular objects, combinations of objects or how those objects are formatted within reports. Some measure objects look at attributes in the database that are single figures that cannot be broken down. Talis Education Page 9

10 2. Getting started with InfoView 2.1 Logging on InfoView is accessed via a web page: NOTE: The InfoView logon page can also be accessed from: This links to a logon screen. There are a number of components: System This is the name of the system. This is likely to but this may vary. User name The user name (not case sensitive). Password This will be set up by the system administrator and may need to conform to a set pattern e.g. number of character or mixture of character types. It is possible for the user to change their password within the defined rules once logged in. Authentication There are a number of ways of authenticating users but we are only using Enterprise e.g. controlled by the Decisions server. 2.2 Rights When you login you pick up a set of rights. These rights are assigned to each user directly or inherited from the groups or groups that the user resides in. These rights control what can be done or even seen e.g. folders, documents and universes can be limited to certain users. Another example is that users can be prevented from deleting objects or folders. In the training system there are generally no restrictions but in the customers environment there may well be restrictions placed on the system for users. Rights are controlled from within the Central Management Console and would be set-up by the system administrator. The Central Management Console functionality and rights are covered in Talis Decisions: Administration course. ACTIVITY 01: Log on as your assigned user. In the first instance try the logon with no password to get the logon failure message. Talis Education Page 10

11 2.3 The Home Page The InfoView Home Page is made up of various sections called panels. Title Bar: Contains a logo and user account name Navigation Bar: This panel contains the following buttons: Navigation bar Button Description Displays the InfoView Home Page Hides or displays the Navigation Panel Hides or displays the Encyclopaedia if available. Note this is not part of the standard installation. Select the option to create a new Web Intelligence, Desktop Intelligence, Hyperlink or upload a document from a PC. Refreshes the InfoView screen Allows you to send a document to another user, to , to an FTP location or to a file location. Allows the creation of custom dashboards for My InfoView page. Allows a user to search for documents using terms in the title, keyword or all fields. There is also an advance search option. Talis Education Page 11

12 Navigation bar Description Button Allows a user to set personal preferences. Click to logoff InfoView Display BusinessObjects Help. Navigation Panel: o WorkSpace Panel: o o Discussions Panel: o 2.4 Accessing objects This panel displays either lists of folders ( My folders and Public folders) or lists of categories (Personal and Corporate Categories). There are buttons to switch between folders and categories. It is also possible to create new folders and categories in this panel. It is also possible to minimise this panel or to resize it. This panel displays documents associated with a selected folder or category. The WorkSpace Panel also has a toolbar with the options to move, delete or filter those documents displayed. When first logged in a splash page is displayed but this can be configured. (This is covered later in the section about Customising InfoView.) The panel can be expanded or opened in a separate window. The WorkSpace Panel will also display the contents of a selected document. This panel allows the discussions connected to a document to be displayed. By default this panel is minimised. InfoView acts as a portal to a range of objects. These objects are also called documents especially where they are Web Intelligence and Desktop Intelligence objects. An object can be: Web Intelligence Desktop Intelligence Crystal Report Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Excel Text Adobe Acrobat Rich Text Microsoft Word Hyperlink (The non-businessobjects documents are sometimes referred to as agnostic documents) These can all be viewed in InfoView. There are two ways of organising objects - folders and categories. These can have a tree structure of sub-folders and sub-categories. Objects can be viewed by others if they are held in the Public Folders and Corporate Categories. If objects are in My Folders or Personal categories then they are reserved for a user s personal use and are not visible to other users. Under My Folders there are two folders, Favorites and Inbox. Talis Education Page 12

13 2.4.1 Folders: Are used as containers for objects. A folder relates to a physical location of an object. A folder can hold many objects but an object can only sit in one folder. i.e. the object can only exist in one place in the folder system. This means that deleting a folder will delete the objects and sub-folders within the folder as well. The My Folders section will contain a Favorites and Inbox for all users by default. The Inbox is a peculiar type of personal folder. This is where objects sent to a user within InfoView will be delivered. You don t have as much functionality related to objects in an Inbox. The object should be moved to a Personal or Public folder to perform any other activity than viewing the report. It should not be used for storing objects. It is possible to create new folders. New folders can be created under the Favorites folder or under Public Folders. It is not possible to create folders at the same level as the Favorites folder Categories: Are used to tag objects to classify them in a meaningful way. A category can hold many objects and an object can sit in many categories. Deleting a category will not affect the objects held within the category. Initially there are no Personal or Corporate Categories unless they are migrated from an earlier version of Talis Decisions. It is possible to create Personal and Corporate Categories. Talis Education Page 13

14 The Navigation Panel has a tool bar: Toolbar Button Description Shows the Folders view Shows the Categories view Refreshes the Navigation Panel View and edit sub-folder and sub-category properties. Reorganise folders and categories and create new folders or categories. It is also possible to create new folders and categories from the in the man Navigation Toolbar. Copy selected folders and sub-folders. This option is not available with categories. Delete selected folders or categories. NOTE: Deleting a folder will delete the objects and sub-folders within the folder as well. Deleting a category will not affect the objects held within the category. Talis Education Page 14

15 2.5 Managing objects When you select a folder or category the objects that exist in that folder or category are displayed in the WorkSpace Panel in a list. The information displayed and the number of objects displayed in one screen is configurable in the preferences. Where there are objects spread over more than one page (The default is 10 objects per page) then there are links to the additional pages at the bottom of the WorkSpace Panel. Against each Object is a checkbox. The organise and delete buttons on the toolbar require objects to be selected via the checkbox. Clicking the checkbox in the header bar will check all objects on the page. Each object on the list includes an icon to indicate the type of an object it is. The arrows and will maximise or minimise the object display by removing the options under the title of each object. The arrow on the header will allow toggle all the objects displays on the page. The name of the object will link to the document itself. The page list can be sorted by clicking on the Title section of the header. The display of agnostic documents (i.e. non Webi or Deski documents) will depend on the applications loaded on the PC and the configuration of the browser e.g. you should have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view a PDF document. Agnostic documents cannot be edited directly in InfoView. To change an agnostic document you need to save it onto the PC, make the changes and then uploaded again. Each object on this list has a number of options that vary depending on the type of object. Object option Properties History Schedule Modify Description This links to the object details e.g. Title, Description, Keywords, create date, last modified date, Last run date and what categories have been assigned. It is possible to update the categories. Shows the instances of the Web Intelligence or Desktop Intelligence object. Allows the Web Intelligence and Desktop Intelligence objects to be scheduled. Allows Web Intelligence objects to be modified (and Desktop Intelligence objects if Desktop Intelligence is loaded on the PC) The WorkSpace Panel has a toolbar when looking at a list: Talis Education Page 15

16 Toolbar option Description The following options are possible for selected object/s: Move to New Folder Copy to New Folder Add Shortcuts to New Folder Add to my Favourites Delete selected object/s. Allows the user to select a particular type of object to be displayed. Only one specific object can be selected at a time. The option defaults to All Types It is possible to get a list of objects that match search criteria. The Search option in the Navigation bar will return all the objects that match the search. There are different search options and an advanced search screen. 2.6 Uploading Agnostic documents and Adding Hyperlinks Go to the button on the Navigation Bar and select the Document from local computer option and then select the type of document you wish to upload. The types of documents than can be uploaded are Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Excel Text Adobe Acrobat Rich Text Crystal Report Microsoft Word A screen will be displayed where you can enter the title, description and keywords for the file. There is also a browse button to find the file on the PC. It is also possible to select the Folder and/or categories for the file. Talis Education Page 16

17 To add a Hyperlink select that option from the button and enter the URL details etc. 2.7 Shortcuts A shortcut is an object that points to another object in a different folder. You can create shortcuts as opposed to copying and moving documents from one folder to another. Effectively it is a way to have an object in more than one folder. You cannot create Shortcuts in Categories as there is no restriction in assigning more than one category to an object. This means that a number of users are looking at a single report rather than each having their own version which might not reflect a single view as each document is changed over time. To create a shortcut Tick the checkbox for the selected object Select Add Shortcuts to New Folder from the Organize menu Select the folder you require from the next screen and Click OK. The new Shortcut object will be created and the title will have Shortcut to appended to the original objects title. While it is possible to rename the shortcut object title this should be done with care as there is no other indication that the object is a shortcut. ACTIVITY 02: Open the Public Training Folder and copy objects and create shortcuts in the train folder corresponding to your logon in the Public Folders area i.e. Train1, Train2, Train3 or Train4. Create Personal Folders and Categories and populate them. 2.8 Viewing a Web Intelligence document A Web Intelligence document can be viewed by clicking on its name in the list of documents. The report is displayed in WorkSpace Panel. (If you want more space it is possible to minimise the Navigation Panel.) Talis Education Page 17

18 The report appears in the WorkSpace Panel. Left-sided pane Toolbar Document pane The left-sided pane can be flipped between three views Status bar Navigation Map Pane: This pane lists the reports included in the document and any sections within each report. User Prompt Input Pane: If the document includes prompts then you can view the values selected and change if required. Find Pane: This allows you to search for terms within the document. The Document Pane shows the document with the current report displayed. There are tabs to move between the different reports within the document. If there are a lot of reports in the document, arrows will appear next to the status bar to allow you to access the additional reports. At the bottom of the Document Pane is the Status Bar which displays the last refresh date. The toolbar has the following options: Toolbar option Description Talis Education Page 18

19 Toolbar option Description The following options are possible for selected object/s. The browser tends to remember the last set of options selected: Close Closes the document Edit If you have permission to you will be able to modify either the format or the queries in the document. Save Saves the document under the original name and location. You may wish to save a document if you have refreshed the data within the document. Save as Save the report under a new name and location. You may wish to save a document under a new name if you have refreshed the data within the document. Save to my computer as The document can be saved to the PC as a PDF, Excel spreadsheet and thus retain the formatting of the report as displayed. It is also possible to save the data retrieved from the SQL queries in a CSV formatted file. The data retrieved may be different from what is displayed in the document. The CSV (with options) allows you to define another column delimiter and text qualifier other than the default of, and respectively. The options under this tool allow you to alter the WorkSpace Panel view. The browser tends to remember the last set of options selected. Page mode This is the default method of displaying the document. This method will display document headers and footers. Draft mode Does not display headers and footers and allow a greater focus on the data. PDF mode Displays the document as a PDF. Left Panel Toggles the display of the Left panel Status Bar Toggles the display of the Status Bar. Saves the document under the existing title and in its present folder. Opens the Find Pane in the Left pane. Talis Education Page 19

20 Toolbar option Description These options are only available if a change is made to a document e.g. the document is refreshed. It might be more up-to-date data or a change in prompted values. It is only possible to undo or redo one action. Enlarge or shrink the document by a defined percentage or enter your own value. The document may be spread over several pages. The arrows allow you to move forward and backwards one page at a time or to go to the first or last page directly. It is also possible to enter the page number you require directly. It is possible that the total number of pages may not be displayed when a document is first viewed. This is because the Decisions Server does not return all p ages to the browser at once. It just sends the pages that are being viewed. When the first page is displayed the system has not checked what total number of pages contained in the document. To see the total number of pages move to the last page using the button. This button will refresh the query or queries in the document. If the document contains prompts you will be prompted to accept the existing values or to change the values. If a document is refreshed but not saved then you will be warned if you attempt to close the document. The drill option allows you to start drilling into the document data. This can be toggled on and off. For example you could drill down from item type to list the locations containing that item type The ability to do this successfully depends on the nature of the query. Drilling will be covered later. Once drilling is started in a report the Snapshot option becomes accessible. The Snapshot option only becomes available with Drill. As you drill down through data you will be getting different views. The Snapshot allows you to take a copy of that report and insert it into a new report for comparison or just later review. 2.9 Parts of a Web Intelligence and Desktop Intelligence document A document is made up of various components: One or more universes that are used to generate SQL queries that extract information from a data source e.g. the prod_talis database. A result set which contains the results from the queries stored in microcubes. One or more formatted reports. Each report may contain data from one or more queries. Each report may contain multiple blocks i.e. a chart, table or crosstab. The blocks may display the same data or different views of that data or data from different universes and queries. The components of a report are: Sections Each report has a main section. There is also a Page Header and Page Footer. Talis Education Page 20

21 It is possible to create sections based on Objects e.g. If you want the number of item by item type for each site then you can create sections based on the Home site location. Blocks A block is a set of data be that a table, crosstab or chart. Multiple blocks can be held in a section. These blocks may be relate d or not e.g. a table and a chart showing the same information. Variables and Cells A cell contains either fixed text, formulas or report variables. Fixed text variables are referred to as constants. Although we say fixed text they could be URLs or images. Cells whose properties change are called variables. When an objects is selected this becomes a variable in the report or a variable may be created using a formula e.g. adding two objects together or some other function. ACTIVITY 03: Acces s the folders/categories and create some new folders or categories in the personal folder s/categories. Copy Public Training Folder to the personal area. Delete one of the new folders created. Open a Web Intelligence document and explore the options available in the viewer Discussions Discussions allow discussion threads to be associated with an object. These discussion threads allow users to share thoughts and comments on the object to aid collaboration. The Discussions Bar is at the bottom of the screen under the WorkSpace Panel. By default it will be minimised. If the panel is maximised then discussions will only be visible if an object is selected from the document list or if the object is open in the WorkSpace Panel. As each new thread is created responses are displayed under the thread. Responses to responses are indented under the response. They are displayed in bold if unread within the current viewing. You cannot modify the original post or other user s posts. The Discussions Panel has a Tool Bar. Toolbar option Description This button starts a new a new thread. Each thread response contains a Subject and a Message Section. A default subject line giving the user and date time will be inserted in the Subject but this can be replaced. A new message is visible to everyone in the group. Talis Education Page 21

22 Toolbar option Description You can reply to everyone in the Group. In this context it means anyone who has the right to see the discussions for this object which may cross several groups. You can reply just to the sender. This means that only the sender and you can view that message within the Discussions Panel. The list of messages displays the originator of the message. This allows users to delete their own notes. You cannot delete other user s notes. It is possible to delete threads in the CMC. Deleting a message will delete all the responses as well. It is possible that where there are responses from other users that it may not be possible to remove the messages. Flag a message as High Importance. It adds a red exclamation point to the message. Flag a message as Low Importance. It adds a blue arrow pointing downwards to the message. These arrows allow you to move up and down through the discussion threads. It is not possible to be notified of any replies to an individual or a group. Global management of Discussion threads can be done via the CMC. ACTIVITY 04: Select an object in the Public Training Folder and get users to start threads and post responses to groups and individual users Log ging off InfoView Logging off InfoView should be done via the icon on the Navigation Bar. This will return you to the logon screen. If you do closed the browser directly the users should be prompted to log out but this is configurable in the user s preferences. ACTIVITY 05: Attempt to logoff from InfoView Talis Education Page 22

23 3. Customising InfoView It is possible to change various preferences for the Talis Decisions product suite. To change preferences Click on the icon on the Navigation Bar. A set of tabs appears in the workspace panel. This section will only cover the General, Web Intelligence, Desktop Intelligence and Password tabs. To save changes At the bottom of the page: or Click the Apply button to save the changes and remain in the Preferences module Click OK to return to the WorkSpace Panel 3.1 Customising InfoView options General tab Options My initial view is My default navigation view is Description Home The default. My InfoView See later section Favourites Display the objects in your Favourites folder. Inbox Display the contents of your inbox the folder Select a personal or public folder to display. The folder selected is displayed. Click on the browse button to select a folder. the category Select a personal or public category to display. The category selected is displayed. Click on the browse button to select a folder. The Navigation Pane displays the folder view on logon by default. The category view can be set to display on logon. Talis Education Page 23

24 Options On my desktop For each document, show me View my documents When I close my browser window My interface locale is My current time-zone is Description The number of objects that will display on a page can be altered. The default is 10 (although this global default can be altered in the CMC). Useful if there is a range of resolutions used. By default all possible information is displayed but options can be disabled. Description Owner Last run date Instance count Actions and descriptions Unchecking this option will mean the object actions will not be displayed by default. The actions can be viewed usi ng the and arrows. By default any documents are displayed in the WorkSpace Panel e.g. in the InfoView Panel. It is also possible to view documents in a single browser window e.g. if a new document is opened then the existing document is replaced or to open a new browser window for each document. The latter option would mean multiple windows that could be confusing but it does make it easier to compare different documents. Ideally a user should logoff cleanly using the icon but if the browser is closed then you can select to be prompted to logoff, to always logoff or never to close the session. The best option is to leave the default e.g. always ask. This is set to Use browser locale. You can select another locale from the list but it is better to ensure the browser is set to the right locale e.g. English (United Kingdom) This should be left to Local to web server. Changing to another time zone could lead to confusing timestamps etc. Talis Education Page 24

25 3.1.2 Web Intelligence Document tab Options Select a view format: Select a report panel: (The course and this document only use the java report panel.) For each new drill session: Description HTML The default setting. Useful if you want to navigate reports to view results and refresh the document data to see the latest figures. The values are static. This is probably the best option for the majority of users. Interactive This mode allows you to carry out changes to reports while viewing them in InfoView. More details later but only useful for advance users and report writers. This option can be limited within the CMC. Portable Document Format (PDF) Useful if you want to print and view reports. Query HTML Allows you to work with queries in a HTML environment. Is restricted in that you can t modify the formatting. The formatting of the document can be done if used in conjunction with the Interactive view mode. It requires no additional software so is useful where there are firewall restrictions or dial-up connections used. Can be disabled in the CMC. Java Report Panel Allows you to work in a java panel which allows formula building using a graphical editor. It is strongly suggested that the Java Panel option is selected. The other options might be useful where network restrictions mean the java panel does not perform or can be downloaded. HTML Report Panel The HTML Report Panel allows you to build query and report features through a simple interface. Each document that you create is based on a single data source and can contain multiple reports that display different subsets of information. The HTML Report Panel can be customised for special deployments. Again this is restrictive. The default drill option is to start the drill process on an existing report. However you can change the default setting to create a duplicate report when you start the drill operations. Talis Education Page 25

26 Options General drill options: Select MS EXCEL format: Select a format locale: When viewing a document: Select default universe: Description Prompt if drill requires additional information If a drill requires additional data then you can selected to be prompted to continue or not. Synchronise drill in report blocks If you had a table and a chart of the same data and you drilled in the table without this option set then the chart would not reflect the drill. Hide drill toolbar When you drill the Drill Toolbar automatically appears unless this option is set. If you want to display the data in a format that is similar to working in Excel, then choose "Prioritize the format of reports in the Excel document". If you want to display the data in a text format, then choose "Prioritize easy data processing in the Excel document". These options only relate to output from scheduled documents and not to data exported while viewing a document. The locale setting determines the language set and date format that Web Intelligence uses when you work with your documents. It is advised to select the Use interface locale option You can select the locale that was used when the document was created or the current formatting locale. There should be no difference in most cases as a single locale is used through out. It is advised that that the formatting locale is used. You can select a default universe to be used when creating a Web Intelligence document. You can only select universes that you have access to. Select the No default universe option to remove the default. The default universe if set will be displayed. Be aware you don t get the option to select another universe when creating a new document Desktop Intelligence tab HTML Options Portable Document Format Desktop Intelligence Format Description This is the default value and will display a Desktop Intelligence document in HTML format. This is better suited where a document is to be refreshed and it contains prompts etc. The document is displayed in PDF format (Abode Acrobat must be installed). This is suited to viewing and printing reports. If Desktop Intelligence is installed on the PC then the document will be downloaded and opened in Desktop Intelligence. The application will be opened as the same user as the Web Intelligence user automatically. The Talis Education Page 26

27 Options Description connection to the database will be governed by the connection server Password tab This option allows a user to change their password. It is necessary to enter the original password and then enter the new password twice. Within the CMC rules can be set-up regarding password structure and aging. If a password does not conform to the settings the change will be rejected. ACTIVITY 06: Make changes to the Preferences and check the effects in InfoView. 3.2 Creating a dashboard It is possible to create your own personal dashboard with My InfoView. The My InfoView option allows you to create a set of views on folders or documents. The My InfoView object created can then be selected to be displayed in the WorkSpace Pan el manually or it can be set to be displayed when you logon. See General Preferences. It is only possible to have one My InfoView object per user. It is held in the users Favourites folder. The My InfoView dashboard ca n be accessed via the Favourites folder or from the button on the Navigation Toolbar. If a d ashboard has been created then the dashboard is displayed e.g. The option to edit the dashboard is given at the top right of the dashboard. Editing the dashboard or creating a new one is roughly the same. If no dashboard has been created then the following screen will be displayed. Talis Education Page 27

28 A dash board is made up of a number of panes that can be pointed to folders or objects. Categories cannot be included. The number of panes can be defined by the user but certain predefined configurations are supplied. Options Description Single Pane Two Columns Three Columns Two Rows Three Rows SharePoint Style It is possible to create additional panes but it is necessary to pick a template first. By default the Single Pane will be displayed. Select the nearest template to what is required. On each Pane are a number of icons: Options Description Reopen in a new Window Talis Education Page 28

29 Options Description Split Pane Vertically. This can be used to create dashboards that differ from the templates. Split Pane Horizontally. This can be used to create dashboards that differ from the templates. Properties. This allows you define what is displayed in the pane. If a pane is empty then there will be a link in the pane called Define Content. Close the pane. This option is not available in the Single Pane template. It is possible to resize each pane by using standard windows functionality. To insert details into a pane select the Properties option or the Define Content option and a window will be opened. Once the pane properties are set click on the OK button. Options Web Address Object Header Footer Border Description This allows a web page to be displayed in the pane e.g. a corporate page etc. Enter a standard URL. Cannot be used with the Object option. Allow a Folder or an object to be displayed in the pane. The folder and object must be accessible to the user. Cannot be used with Web Address option. A caption to the Pane can be added to be displayed in the header. A link from the header to a web page can be inserted as a standard URL. A caption to the Pane can be added to be displayed in the footer. A link from the footer to a web page can be inserted as a standard URL. By default borders to each side of the pane are displayed. These can be remove be deselecting the side/s required. Once the changes have been made to the dashboard then click on the Save link. Talis Education Page 29

30 The dashboard will be saved to the users Favourites folder and appear as follows: By clicking on the Modify link it possible to make further changes. When viewing the dashboard there are a number of options for each pane Options Description Reopen in new window Maximise sets the pane to the whole of the WorkSpace Restore Restored the Pane to its original size in the WorkSpace. ACTIVITY 07: Create your own dashboard. Talis Education Page 30

31 4. Creating Web Intelligence Documents InfoView allows you to view and refresh existing documents but Web Intelligence allows you to create a new document or modify an existing Web Intelligence. In order to create a Web Intelligence document a query needs to be generated by selecting universe objects. 4.1 The Report Panel As mentioned in the Preferences section there is three types of Web Intelligence Report Panel. Only the Java Report Panel will be used during the course. The Java Report Panel has two views, The Edit Query View and the Edit Report View. CONFIGURATION: Ensure that the Java Panel option is selected in the Preferences before starting this section. These may have been altered in the Preferences activity. 4.2 Creating a new document To access the Web Intelligence Report Panel click on the down list select the Web Intelligence Document option. button on the Navigation Bar. From the pull In the WorkSpace Panel a list of universes will be displayed. Talis Education Page 31

32 Select the Loan Aggregates Universe. This universe is used initially as it is very simple and allows quick responses to multiple queries. This makes it ideal for getting used to the reporting functionality. The Java Report Panel will then load into the WorkSpace Panel. This may take a few seconds and users may be prompted to accept a certificate. This will only happen once on a machine that has not run the Java Applet before. Once the Java Applet has been loaded once within a browser session then it will load more quickly when it is subsequently accessed. CONFIGURATION: The browsers must be java enabled e.g. have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) v5 (1.5) installed. If it isn t installed then you will also be prompted to install this as well. The JRE will be downloaded from the Sun web site and installed. There may be issues depending on the network access and install rights given to you by your IT department. If necessary the JRE can be downloaded and installed manually but it must be JRE v5 (1.5) or less. In addition pop-ups must be allowed from the Decisions Server. If not it will not be possible to save or move documents as these functions are controlled from additional windows treated as pop-ups. The Edit Query View in the (Java) Report Panel is displayed. NOTE: To ensure more space on-screen minimise the Navigation Panel by clicking on the header. The Panel can be displayed by clicking on the Toggle Navigation icon, Toolbar. icon on the Panel on the Navigation Select the following objects by double clicking on them in the Data Pane which will add them to the Result Objects Panel. The objects can also be dragged and dropped from the Data Pane to the Results Objects Pane. This is a simple query just to show a query being run and more details will be discussed later: Year Talis Education Page 32

33 Item type Total issues/renews Click on the button and a document will be generated in the Edit Report view. This view allows users to change how data is displayed. The progress of the query will be displayed and then the report will be displayed as a vertical table with a default title. This is the default display format. 4.3 Saving a new document Once a report has been created it needs to be saved in order to keep the document for future use. Click on the icon in the Report Panel Toolbar to save the document. A pop-up box will be displayed that allows the document to be given a title and saved to a particular folder or category. Talis Education Page 33

34 Options Title Description Keywords Refresh on open Permanent Regional Formatting Location Categories Description This should a unique name. It a document already exists you will be prompted to confirm whether you want to overwrite the original report. The title is searchable. This field allows additional comments against the report. The description is searchable. Allows keywords to be assigned to aid in searching. By default unchecked but it is possible to ensure that the latest data is viewed when the report is opened. However it is not advisable to check this option unless you are sure of the performance of the document and whether you want users to view the original data in the report. Checking this box would override the users default regional settings for language and time stamping. Not relevant as all users are in the same region. Allows the user to select the folder in which the document will be saved. A folder must be selected and by default the users Favourites folder will be selected. You can only save to one folder but it is possible to move, copy or create a shortcut within InfoView. For all exercises users should save documents to their Favourites folder unless otherwise directed. It is also possible to assign categories to the document as well as a folder. More than one category can be selected from Public and Personal categories. By default no categories will be selected. Move to the Favorites folder and the document will be displayed Notice that the description is displayed. ACTIVITY 08: 1. Create a document using the Loans Aggregate universe and save it. Search for the document and then open it. Talis Education Page 34

35 4.4 Modifying a document s query There are two main w ays of modifying a document. 1. Click on the Modify link from the document list. 2. View the document and then select the Edit option from the menu. In both c ases you will be taken to the Edit Report View. Click on the button to enter the Edit Query View. 4.5 Working with the Edit Query View The Edit Query View is made up of a number of sections: Query Manager pane Query Filters pane General View Tool Bar and Query Toolbar Results Objects pane The General View Tool Bar is common to both options: the Edit Query and Edit Report Views. It has the following Options Description New Document Allows you to create a document and build a new query. Unless the current document is saved the current document will be lost. Talis Education Page 35

36 Options Description Saves the document. Also options to Save as a different name or to save the document to the PC as an MS Excel or PDF document. The Save button is greyed out in the Edit Query View as queries are saved as part of a document and not separately. The document can only be saved in the Edit Report View. Send the document to the PC default printer as a PDF. This option is greyed out in the Edit Report View. This button allows the user to define what panes and toolbars are displayed in the Edit Report View. T his option is greyed out in the Edit Report View. This allows you to edit the queries in the Edit Query View. It will be highlighted when in the Edit Query View. This allows you to display the Edit Report View and control how you display the data from the query or queries. The Run Query button (or Run Queries button where there is multiple queries) will run the query or all the queries and then return you to the Edit Report View to displayed the results in the report. Where there is more than one query in a document then it is possible to select an individual query from the pull down option on the button. However this should be done with care as refreshing only one query may give incorrect results. When a query is run the progress is displayed. The first time a query is run they is no time estimate given. Subsequent refreshes will display the time the query took on the last run as a guide. If a query is changed e.g. objects added or conditions applied then the last refresh time may no longer be a good guide to the time taken for the query to run. Allows you to purge the data from queries. Where there are multiple queries it is possible to select a particular query to purge. Where no queries have been run the option will be greyed out. User Settings This allows the users to show measurements in Pixels, Inches or Centimetres. It also allows a grid to be displayed in the Edit Report View and that objects will snap to the grid. The size of the grid can also be defined. While it is possible to change the values while in the Edit Query View the settings only relate to the Edit Report View. Displays context sensitive help from BusinessObjects Talis Education Page 36

37 TIP: If you wan t to save a documents without running the queries e.g. the queries would take an hour so you want to schedule the document to be refreshed then create the queries and the click on the button. The objects will be included in the report but there will be no data. You can then edit the format of the report and then save it within the Edit Report View. The Query toolbar has the following options: Options Description Configure View button. Allows you to toggle the Query Manager pane from displaying or not. Show/Hide Filter Pane. Show/Hide Scope of Analysis pane Allows you to add a new query to a document. Add Quick Filter button. Allows you to apply a filter selected from the Results Objects Pane. Discussed in detail later. Add a sub-query button Allows you to create a sub-query to limit the data returned. This is advanced functionality and won t be covered. There are also performance issues in using sub-queries in Sybase. Add a database ranking This functionality not available in Sybase. Add a combined query Allows you to combine the data retrieved from more than one query using the minus, union and intersection operator. It requires the same result objects but different filters. View SQL button Allows you to view, copy and modify the SQL statements used to generate the query. Modification can only be made to the conditions in the SQL e.g. Where. Changes should be avoided and knowledge of SQL and the Alto database is required. 4.6 Query Manager pane Documents can have more than one query associated with them. If this is the case there will be a tab for each q uery at the foot of the query manager pane. To move between queries select the at the bottom of the pane as required. Right clicking on this tab allows you to Rename the query, Move the query (if there are Talis Education Page 37

38 multiple queries), Run the Query, Add a query, Duplicate a query, Delete the query or purge the results of a query (If it has been run). The Query Manager pane has two tabs at the top for each query. The Data tab The Data tab shows all the objects within the universe and this is where objects are selected for queries. Classes maybe closed and expanded as required. If an object is selected and highlighted then a short held description is displayed at the bottom of the screen. An object description is also displayed as you move the cursor over an object. It is possible to display All Objects or the objects used in Hierarchies using the radio buttons at the foot of the query manager pane. Hierarchies relate to Drilling and will be discussed later. It is advised that the All Objects option is selected. The Properties tab This allows you to de fine the properties of the query. The default values are shown below and there is unlikely to be a need to change these values. Options Description Talis Education Page 38

39 Options Name Universe Limits Data Description Whenever a query is created the name defaults to Query 1. Any subsequent queries in a document will be Query 2, Query 3 etc. It is possible to change the name at this prompt to better describe the query. This is most useful in documents with multiple queries. This field displays the universe used with the query. It is possible to change the universe associated with the query. Clicking on the button will list the universes available to the user. It is not advised to change the universe as the objects select may not exist in another universe or may have different names. It is better to create a new query within the document By default the universes are set to retrieve all rows in a query and have no limit on the time taken. Limits can be added but this may affect the results of the query so should be avoided. There may be timeouts related to networks or the database which may also affect queries but are not controlled by Timeout setting. Any duplicate rows will be returned in a query. It is not advisable to change this unless there is a valid reason. Security By default all users will be able to edit this query if they have the appropriate rights assig ned to them. If the option is unchecked then only the user who created the document will be able to modify the query. This property unlike the others will affect all the queries in a document and not just the current query selected. Prompt Order Where there are multiple prompts assigned to a query you can define the order that the prompts will be displayed to the user when the document is refreshed. This may help the work flow in which the document sits. Contexts Contexts are used with Universe Design. It is theoretically possible that a user may have to select a context where two are available for use but the Talis universes are designed either not to use contexts or that there will not be conflicts. 4.7 Building a query It is advised to leave the default setting. Click and drag objects from the Query Manager Data pane into the Results Object panel or double click objects. The order the objects are entered will determine how the default report is created initially however if after you run a query you go back in and add objects it does not necessarily affect the display. How the data is formatted is controlled in the Edit Report View. ACTIVITY 09: Create a report from the Loan Aggregates universe and look around the query panel including properties, SQL, saving without running and refreshing queries. Talis Education Page 39

40 5. Restricting the Data Returned Most of the time you are going to want to limit the data that is retrieved e.g. you only want reference items or you only want every item type other than reference items. The data can be restricted in three ways: At the point th e data is retrieved from the database Query Filters In the report after the data is retrieved Report Filters (These are looked at later) Both In this section we look at Query Filters. 5.1 Restricting data with Query Filters Adding a query filter has the following benefits You retrieve only the data you require for the answer to a specific question. You c an hide data that you don t want users to see. You minimise the quantity of data returned to optimise performance within the document. However adding query filters can increase the performance hit on the database server. By adding a query filter to a query you are modifying the where statement in the generated SQL sent to the database. Not all objects can be used in filters. Whether an object can be used in a filter is defined by the universe designer. An object can be used in a Query Filter pane without being used in the Result Objects pane. By dragging objects into the Query Filters pane it is possible to build a simple or complex set of filters. A query filter is made u p of three components: 1. An object that you wish to filter on. The object does not have to be one of the objects in the Result Objects pane. 2. An operator than defines the relationship between the object and operand. 3. An operand which is the object value/s to be used for filtering. For example: OBJECT OPERATOR OPERAND Item types Equal to Adult Fiction The available operators are: Operators Equal to Description Equal to one specified value only. = Talis Education Page 40

41 Operators Description Not Equal To Not equal to a specified single value.!= Greater than Greater than a specified value. > Greater than or Greater than or equal to a specified value. equal to >= Less than Less than a specified value. < Less than or Less than or equal to a specified value. equal to <= Between Between and including two values BETWEEN Not Between Values outside a particular range NOT BETWEEN In List Equal to multiple values IN Not In List Different from multiple values NOT IN Is Null Where no values exist. This is different from zero or blank strings. IS NULL Is Not Null Where attribute does not contain a null IS NOT NULL Matches Pattern Allows the use of wildcards to create a pattern. _ represents one character and % represents a number of characters. LIKE Different From Where the pattern is not matched Pattern NOT LIKE Both Where correspon ds to two spe cified values. Not of use in Talis universes. INTERSECT Except Where corresponds to one specified value and does not correspond to another specified value. MINUS There are four types of oper and: Talis Education Page 41

42 Operands Constant Value(s) from list Prompt Object Description Allows you to enter one or more values manually. Multiple values are separated by semicolons. For character based objects there is not need to include quotes. If an object has a list of values then it is possible to pick one or more values from the list. If no list of values exists then the option will not be selectable. Allows documents to be created that will prompt the user for values. Allows you to filter based on another object. There are four types of query filters Predefined query filters Prompted filters Single and multi-value filters Complex filters 5.2 Using predefined filters Predefined queries are created as part of the universe design and they appear in the Query Manager Data pane as objects with the icon. These objects are selected by dragging the objects in to the Query Filter pane. Only a few have been created in the universes e.g. Limit to current issues in the Circulation universe. 5.3 Applying a single-value and multi-value filters It is possible to create a query that is filtered for single or multiple values for a single object. Create a query as below using the constant operand Talis Education Page 42

43 With the operator set to Equal to when the icon is selected the following window is displayed: Select an Item type. As the operator is Equal to only one item type can be selected. Run the query. Change the operator to In list and select the window is displayed: icon and select the Value(s) from list option. The following Talis Education Page 43

44 Select two item types. This can be done: By using the mouse and Ctrl button (The shift button and mouse allows you select a range), By typing in the value in the top field (b ut this defeats the purpose of have a list.) or Using the search field on long lists. You search for parts e.g. jun will find all item types starting with jun. The search is not case sensitive by default although this can be altered. Click on the arrow to move the selected values into the Value(s) Selected column. Values can be removed from this column by selecting them and clicking on the button. Data missing from a list of values Where there is a list of values this is taken from the database by a piece of SQL and stored centrally for a quick response. If a list value is added, modified or removed in the database the value in the file may not have been updated. If a value is missing, incorre ct or still present then click on the button. This will update the file and this will affect all other users as well. The use of any conditions my result in no data being selected. If this is the case then a message will be displayed to warn the user and the report will be displayed but with no data. Filters on Dates If the object in the Query Filter is a date object (This means that the object has to be a full date time object) then an icon will appear next to the operand field. Click on this to display a calendar. Talis Education Page 44

45 Today s date will be highlighted with a red box. Use the arrows to move through the months or enter the date manually and then click on to move directly to the earlier date. ACTIVITY 10: 3. Create some single value and multi-value conditions using different operators. 5.4 Using Prompted filters Prompted filters are the sa me as Single-value filters except that the report user will be asked to input values for the conditions with prompts. This allows a report to be tailored by the user to provide a range of reports without having to have separate documents. Create a query as before Click on the icon and select Prompt option. The condition display changes. A prompt question is automatically added and a new icon is displayed. Click on the icon and a Prompt properties window is displayed. The example above shows the default values when a new prompt is created. Option Description Prompt text The default prompt text can be changed as required. Talis Education Page 45

46 Option Description Prompt with List If a list of values is present for the object the user will be prompted to select of Values from the list by default but this can be turned off. If this is the case they will have to enter the values manually. Select only from the list Keep last(s) selected Set default value(s) If the object has no list of values associated with it then values must be entered manually and the option will be greyed out. If the user is going to be prompted with a list of values you can force them to select form the list and not allow them to enter values manually. While this is not set by default it is worth setting as it solves a lot of issues of typos in prompts meaning data not returned. Whatever values are selected the last time the report was refreshed will be selected by default on the next refresh. Allows query designer to set default values. If this option is selected the window is expanded to show any list of values. When the query is run the prompt entry window will be displayed. The values can be kept or changed as required and then the query is run. If the prompt has a green tick then the prompt has a value if the prompt has a then the prompt contains no value and the query cannot be run. It is possible to use the same prompts in multiple queries. The user is prompted for the values only once and you can be sure that each query using the prompts has the same values being used. To reuse a prompt in anoth er query just ensure that the Prompt text in both query filters is exactly the same. It is a good idea to cut and paste the text between the filters. Talis Education Page 46

47 ACTIVITY 11: Set up som e prompts on a query created from the Loan Aggregates universe and run the query. 5.5 Using Objects as operands It is possible to compare the values from two objects to filter the results from a query. The objects values will vary depending for each row. This is of limited use within the Talis universes. 5.6 Using complex filters The previous example were looking at filters on a single object but it is more likely that filters will need to be set on multiple objects and then joined using OR or AND. Each filter might use prompts or objects etc. These are complex filters. Each object to be filtered is dragged to the Query Filter pane and defined as before. However as each filter is added the filters are joined with the logical AND operator. The AND operator is used by default. This would limit the number of rows to be returned by the query. In this example only the rows with the prompted item types, with the defined locations in the year 2000 will be selected. By double-clicking on the And the logical operator can be changed to OR. The OR operator means that a row only has to meet one of the filters requirements to be included. This will tend to increase the number of rows. Talis Education Page 47

48 You wish to combine filters in different combinations e.g. some filters combined wit h ANDS and some with Ors. This can be done by dragging one filter on to the filter to be combined. The two filters will be combined with an AND which then can be toggled with an OR. Another filter can be dragged into the set. It is possible to get a quite complex filter structure. Remember if negative operators are used then the boolean logical operators will need to be reversed as well. 5.7 Prompt order As was mentioned earlier the order the prompts are displayed can be modified in the Query Properties tab. ACTIVITY 12: Set up some complex filters and run the queries to check the results. Talis Education Page 48

49 6. Report Design in the Edit Report View As soon as a query or queries are run then the results are shown in the Edit Report View. This allows the document writer t o control how the data from the microcube (also referred to as a data provider). A Web Intelligence document has the following elements: One or more Universes One or more reports One of more blocks within a report A microcube of data. A report can show different views of the same information or completely different information on the subject Multiple Reports Multiple Blocks Talis Education Page 49

50 6.1 Edit Report View The Edit Report view allows the document to be created and contains a number of panes and toolbars. General View Toolbar Report Toolbar Formatting Toolbar Page Navigation Toolbar Report Manager Report Tab Document pane 6.2 Document Pane The Document Pane is where the reports within the document are created and modified. Each report in a document can be accessed via a Report Tab at the bottom of the tab. When a new document is created the data in the query will be inserted in a vertical table with a default heading of Report Title. It is not possible to the default heading. 6.3 Report Manager The Report Manager allows the report writer to manage all the objects and variables in the document, change the types of block, change the format properties of the report contents and navigate through the document. There are four tabs: Data tab Lists all the query objects and variables. These can be dragged into the Document pane to create blocks. The contents can be order alphabetically or by query. Templates tab Allows the report writer to change the format of block e.g. tables, crosstabs, charts etc. There are different types of format which can be dragged into the Document pane. Talis Education Page 50

51 Map tab Allows the report writer to navigate around reports and sections. Properties tab Allows the report writer to format reports and blocks. It is possible to view the Properties in a separate pane. 6.4 Toolbars There are a number of toolbars in the Edit Report View. The toolbars allow fast access to functions but many of the functions are accessible in other ways as well General Toolbar (Shared with the Edit Query view.) Options Description New Document Allows you to create a document and build a new query. Unless the current document is saved the current document will be lost. Saves the document. Also options to Save as a different name or to save the document to the PC as an MS Excel or PDF document. The Save button is greyed out in the Edit Query View as queries are saved as part of a document and not separately. The document can only be saved in the Edit Report View. Send the document to the PC defau lt printer as a PDF. This option is greyed out in the Edit Report View. This button allows the user to define what panes and toolbars are displayed in the Edit Report View. The options are: Data Displays Report Manager pane Data/Properties Displays Report Manager pane and Properties pane on the left of screen. Data/Properties on Right Displays Report Manager pane on the left of screen and Properties pane on the right of screen. Collapsed Data/Properties Sets Report Manager menu bar on left of screen and Properties menu bar on the right of screen. Click on the options to expand to see the pane. Toolbars Allows the option to display or not to display the three report toolbars. These are Formatting, Reporting and page Navigation. By default all three are displayed. Depending on the size of the display some options on the toolbars may be hidden. Reset to default This allows you to edit the queries in the Edit Query View. Talis Education Page 51

52 Options Description This allows you to display the Edit Report View and control how you display the data from the query or queries. It will be highlighted when in the Edit Report View. The Run Query button (or Run Queries button where there is multiple queries) will run the query or all the queries and then return you to the Edit Report View to displayed the results in the report. Where there is more than one query in a document then it is possible to select an individual query from the pull down option on the button. However this should be done with care as refreshing only one query may give incorrect results. When a query is run the progress is displayed. The first time a query is run they is no time estimate given. Subsequent refreshes will display the time the query took on the last run as a guide. If a query is changed e.g. objects added or conditions applied then the last refresh time may no longer be a good guide to the time taken for the query to run. Allows you to purge the data from queries. Where there are multiple queries it is possible to select a particular query to purge. Where no queries have been run the option will be greyed out. User Settings This allows the users to show measurements in Pixels, Inches or Centimetres. It also allows a grid to be displayed in the Edit Report View and that objects will snap to the grid. The size of the grid can also be defined. While it is possible to change the values while in the Edit Query View the settings only relate to the Edit Report View. Displays context sensitive help from BusinessObjects Reporting Toolbar Options Description Show or hide Filter pane Show or hide Formula Toolbar Variable Editor Merge Dimensions Show or hide Drill Toolbar Undo previous action Alerters Apply/Remove Ranking Talis Education Page 52

53 Options Description Add Quick Filter Insert/Remove Break Apply/Remove Sort Insert Calculation Insert columns/rows View Page Layout. When viewing the page layout the report is displayed in pages including the page header and page footer. This view indicates what the document will look like in when viewed in PDF format or printed. Objects especially page numbers can be inserted in the page headers and footers. In the normal view no page breaks are seen so more data can be seen on the screen which is better for viewing in HTML format. View Structure Start or End Drill mode Take Snapshot of Drilled Report Formatting Toolbar Options Description Font Name Font Size Bold Italics Underline Left Align Centre Align Right Align Merge Cells. Multiple cells must be selected to enable this option. Background colour. Click on the down arrow to view palette. Text colour. Click on the down arrow to view palette. Talis Education Page 53

54 6.4.4 Page Navigation Toolbar Options Description Allows quick page navigation 6.5 Managing Reports A document contains at least one report. These reports can be accessed by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of the Document pane. There is effectively no limit on the number of reports but more than five probably makes a document unwieldy. If the report tabs cannot be fitted in the display then there are arrows, to the right of the tabs to move through the available reports. The X will delete the currently viewed report. Right-clicking on a report tab displays a range of options: Options Rename Report Description Allows the report name to be updated. By default reports are called Report 1, Report 2 etc. Selecting this option highlights the Report Properties tab in the report manager pane. Insert Report Duplicate Report Delete Report Move Report Drill Document Properties Enter the new name. Move off the field to save the changes. Creates an empty report Creates a copy of the current report. The report has the same name as the original report followed by (1). Once a report is duplicated any changes are not reflected in the other report. Deletes the report. Opens the Document Properties pane which allows the order of the tabs to be moved. Starts the drill functionality on the current report. Opens the Document Properties Panel Talis Education Page 54

55 6.5.1 The Document Properties Panel Options Document Information Description Displays the following information which is not editable in this pane.: Created by Last modified by Creation date Name Description Keywords Locale Talis Education Page 55

56 Options Description Document Options The following options can be selected: Data Synchronisation Options Refresh on open Web Intelligence will refresh the document when it is opened. Not set by default. Enhanced viewing Optimizes the document appearing for on-screen viewing. Selected by default. Use query drill Tells Web Intelligence to modify the query in response to drill actions. Auto-merge Web Intelligence will attempt to dimensions Checked by default. Where possible merge common dimension objects between queries. Extend merged dimension values When this option is clicked, Web Intelligence extends the values in one dimension based on the values in another. You use this option for backwards compatibility with BusinessObjects and Desktop Intelligence reports where these reports contain synchronized data providers. BusinessObjects and Desktop Intelligence extend dimension values; by default, Web Intelligence does not. Report Order Use the arrows to alter the order that reports are displayed. 6.6 Displaying data in tables and charts There are four types of tables: Vertical tables When the first run of a query is started the data is displayed in this format by default. Horizontal tables or financial tables The headings are displayed down the left-hand side of the table. Talis Education Page 56

57 Crosstab Crosstabs provide a similar view to a spreadsheet with column and row headings with the body displaying a measure. Forms Forms are useful for displaying information about borrowers or items. All tables have a header row or title row as well as rows or columns. This header row is a separate entity and can be formatted differently and can be deleted. It is also possible to have footer rows to tables and again this are separate from the data component. Talis Education Page 57

58 6.7 Creating tables There are a number of approaches of creating a table in a report. Ap proach 1 1. Select the objects you wish to view in the table and then drag then into the report and drop them. A vertical table will be automatically created at the point you dropped the objects. 2. Click on the Templates tab in the Report Manager. Under the Tables option select the type of table and drag the template on to the table in the Document pane. Approach 2 1. Click on the button in the Report toolbar. 2. Click on the Templates ta b in the Report Manager. Under the Tables option select the type of table and drag the template in to the Document pane. 3. Empty templates will be displayed. See below for empty templates of each type of table Talis Education Page 58

59 4. Move to the Data tab in the Report Manager and select the objects required and drop them into the templates as required. 5. Click on the button to see the results. If you want to copy an existing table then highlight the table so it is surrounded by a gray border and right click. Select the Copy option. (Also Ctrl-C). and select Paste (Also Ctrl-V). Move to another section of the report or another report and right-click Alternatively once the block has been selected hold down the Ctrl key and drag the duplicate table to an empty area. 6.8 Adding data to tables If you wish to add data to a table just select the object you wish to add and drag it to the table and drop it where you wish it to be in the table. There are different options depending on the position e.g. replacing an existing row/column or adding. A prompt will be displayed to indicate the action that will occur. Removing an object just requires dragging the column/row data into the Report Manager. Remember not to select the header but the actual data. ACTIVITY 13: Talis Education Page 59

60 Create different types of tables in each method using a query from the Loan Aggregates universe. 6.9 Creating Free Standing Cells Free-standing cells are single cells that can be used to add meaning to the report. These might be text comments, images, page numbers, formulas, last refresh date, document name or drill filters. To insert a free-standing cell select the Templates tab in the Report Manager and expand the Free-Standing Cells section Select the type of free-standing cell and then drag it to the position required in the report. By default the cells all have a border at the bottom of the cell and are a set size so you may need to resize the field an d remove the border. To do this click the Properties tab in the Report Manager and then select the cell. In the Proprties tab select the Display section. Use the Height and Width fields to change its size. In Text Format, the Borders option can be used to add or remove borders on the cell. If a Blank Cell is selected you will want to insert text. This can be done by double clicking on the cell in the report and entering the details in the formula box. Text can also be inserted in the General Text field of the cell properties. Talis Education Page 60

61 The Display Read cell content as option (in the Properties tab) defaults to Text but it can be changed to Hyperlink, HTML or an Image URL if you wish to display something other than text. The following table shows what happens when different values are entered in the properties tab in the following areas: General Text Display Read cell contents as General Text Display Read cell contents as Display This document details all loans tdn Text The contents of General Text is read as text. Hyperlink The General Text field will be treated as a URL link if in the right format. The link will be opened in a new window. The link is from the Decisions Server so the Decisions Server must be able to access the link. Depending on local network configuration the access on the server may vary from that on a PC. <del>message</del> HTML The General Text field will be treated as HTML. HTML tags can be used to create a link, or display. When viewed in the Edit Report the tags will be seen but when viewed in the HTML document Viewer in InfoView the display will be correct. If viewed in PDF mode in InfoView the tags will be displayed. boimg://decisions_ba nner.gif Image URL The General Text field will be treated as an image. The image displays when viewed from a web server or from the Decisions server using the boimg:// syntax. These images must be placed in \Program Files\Business Objects\Enterprise115\images on the decisions server. It best to use gif and jpg files. Talis Education Page 61

62 ACTIVITY 14: Create different types of free-standing cells in a report 6.10 Creating charts There are a number of chart templates available to be used. The types are bar charts, line charts, area charts, pie charts and radar charts. There types are then sub-divided. To create a chart there are a number of approaches to creating a chart. Approach 1 1. Click on the button. 2. From the Templates tab in the Report Manager drag the type of chart you want to use in to the report pane. The template will be displayed in the report. Talis Education Page 62

63 3. Within the template there are prompts for placing objects. Select the objects required from the Data tab and drop them in the relevant sections. 4. Click on the and resize the chart as required. Approach 2 1. You have an existing table or chart in a report. Talis Education Page 63

64 2. Pick a chart template from the list of templates and drag the template onto the table or chart. The table or chart will be configured to the new template although adjustments may need to be made to the format and size. Approach 3 1. You have an existing table or chart in a report. 2. Select the table and right-click. Select the Turn to option. A new window will be displayed with tabs for tables and types of charts. Select the required tab and then the specific sub-type and click OK 3. Adjust the size and properties as required. This approach can also be used to turn a chart to a table. Talis Education Page 64

65 ACTIVITY 15: Create different types of charts using the different approaches. Talis Education Page 65

66 7. Enhancing Reports Once a basic report has been created, it can be enhanced to improve the presentation, adhere to corporate standards or for personal preference. 7.1 Breaks Breaks allow data within tables to be separated into groups. This can make it easier to pick out and compare data in a table. To apply a break select the column you wish to group the results by and then click on the button. This can be repeated for other columns. A row is inserted into the table after each group into which a sum or count could be inserted. To remove the break from the table then highlight the column and click on the button. ACTIVITY 17: Apply breaks to a table. Talis Education Page 66

67 7.2 Calculations There are standard calculation functions that be selected from a list. More detailed calculations can be generated using variables and formulas. The standard functions are: Sum Count Average Min Max Percentage The Count, Min and Max calculation options can be used with non-measure objects. Where the Min and Max functions are used with text objects then the values are based on alphabetical order and are not affected by any sorts applied. T o insert a calculation select the column on which the calculation is to be applied and then click on the button to add a sum or click on the pull-down arrow to select another calculation function. Multiple calculations can be inserted, with each one on a separate row. The Percentage function also inserts a new column to include the percentage values. To delete a calculation right-click on the row and pick Remove row from the menu. If there are any breaks or sections then the calculation will be displayed for each break or section. Depending on the formatting of the report it may be necessary to create variables for calculatio ns to deal with sections and breaks etc. In some cases the automatic calculations assumptions will not match the reporting requirements. ACTIVITY 18: Apply different calculations to a table. Talis Education Page 67

68 7.3 Sorts The data in a table is shown in the order it comes out of the database by default. Sorts can be applied to a report by selecting a column and then selecting the button. By default this will sort the data by ascending order. By clicking on the pull-down arrow the sort can be c hanged to descending order or, if the object being sorted is a dimension or details, by a custom sort if one is defined. Any sorts on alphanumeric data will be sorted with numbers preceding letters but the order may differ from what is expected. If sorts are applied to more than one column then the sorts are arranged in the order they were applied e.g. if sorts were applied to location and then loan type then the rows would be sorted by location and then by loan type within each location. To remove a sort from a table then highlight the column. The sort button will be depressed if a sort has been applied. Click on the button to remove the sort. Sorts can be applied via the Properties tab either on the column or if the block properties are selected it is possible to see all the sorts applied to the block and then change the order if necessary. The horizontal sort relates to crosstabs. ACTIVITY 19: Apply sorts to different columns of data. Talis Education Page 68

69 7.4 Report Filters As mentioned before filters are a way of limiting the data. We previously looked at Query Filters and now we look at Report Filters. These limit the data displayed from the microcube. This means the Decisions Server is doing the work in limiting the data and not the database server. They can be used in instead of or in conjunction with Query Filters. In some cases there is better performance in not have conditions in Query Filters and using Report Filters even though more information is brought back from the query. Report Filters can be applied in two ways: 1. A global filter applied to the whole report. This would mean all blocks would be affected. 2. A block filter is applied to a section, table or chart and does not affect any other blocks. To create a Report Filter it is necessary to select the report or the block in the report to be affected. Select a report by clicking on document pane outside of a block or section. Select a block by clicking in the block to be filtered. Once the report or b lock is selected then click on the icon to display the Report Filter pane. The pane can be removed by clicking on the icon again. The pane header will indicate whether the filter is against the report or a block and if so which block. When moving around the report and blocks the display will change to reflect the highlighted area of the document. The filters in a report can also be view under the Map tab of the Report Manager. NOTE: If a Report Filter is added the report and then to a block then both filters will be used for that block and so a different display may be seen than expected. To create a report filter on a block you need to drag an object from the Report Manager (Data) pane and then drop it in to the Report Filter. The Filter Editor is displayed. By default the operator settings will be set to In list but the same operators as with Query Filters are available. Also by default the operand type will be a constant but this can be changed to values from a list where a list of values exists. Talis Education Page 69

70 The constant values or values from a list can then be transferred to the Values(s) Selected column using the arrows. In this case a filter was applied to the Report. In this case the filter was only applied to one block. It is also possible to build up complex filters using multiple objects and Boolean logic as in Query filters. A Report Filter comparing two objects cannot be made directly. You have to create a variable (covered in a later section of the course) and then use the new variable in the filter. ACTIVITY 20: Apply report filters to reports and blocks. Talis Education Page 70

71 7.5 Ranking Ranking allows you to see the top and bottom slice of a set of data. Depending on the query this may only be a subset of the total data in the database. Ranking can only be applied to a dimension on the basis of a given measure. Select the dimension that you wish to rank and then click on the icon. If a ranking has already been applied then the pull down allows the editing or removal of the ranking. If you click on the ranking icon it will remove the ranking. The ranking will be followed through in any sections. By default the top 3 will be shown but it is possible to select the number of values returned. It is also possible to show the bottom range as defined by the user. It is possible to show both in the same display. Be aware you may get more than 3 rows for the top or bottom range where there is a tie. This tends to happen in the bottom range. There are four calculation modes: Count Allows the selection of the top or bottom number of rows. Percentage Allows the selection of the top of bottom percentage of rows. Cumulative Sum Looks at the running totals. Cumulative Percentage Looks at cumulative percentages. ACTIVITY 21: Apply top and bottom ranking to a measure. Change the number e.g. top 5. Talis Education Page 71

72 7.6 Alerters Alerters allow results to be highlighted that meet or fail to meet targets. A basic alerter may just change the colour and font of a value. A more advanced alerter could change the text displayed or insert an image. An alerter can be applied to tables, forms, section cells and free-standing cells but not to charts. Up to 30 alerters can be created per document. These 30 alerters can be applied up to 20 different columns, rows, free-standing rows or section cells. A maximum of 10 alerters can be applied to a single column, row, free- standing cell or section cell. An alerter contains the following elements: A name to identify the alerter An object or cell contents An operator An operand value or another object The conditional formatting To create an alerter click on the icon. A list of Available Alerters will be displayed. If an alerter has already been created that is very similar to the new one you can highlight the alerter and then click Duplicate to create a copy that can then be modified by clicking on the Edit button. Existing Alerters can deleted by highlighting the alerter and clicking on the remove button. Click on the New button to create a new alerter. The Alerter Editor window will be displayed. Talis Education Page 72

73 Options Alerter name Description Sub-Alerter Filtered object or cell Operator Operand(s) Format Formula Add Sub-Alerter Description This should be updated to have an identifiable name. Allows further text to be entered to identify the alerter and its use. This will be the cell or column selected when the Alerter icon was clicked. If nothing was selected or was not valid then the field will have no value and an object can be select ed by clicking on the button. By default the operator will be Equal to but this can be altered to one of the standard operator values. A value can be added manually or an object can be selected by clicking on the button. The allows an additional row in the Sub-Alter to build up Boolean conditions. The Format box displays what formatting has been applied. The button allows this formatting to be changed. The default change is to make the text red. This check box brings up a formula editor that allows more complex formulas to be used. This allows the contents of objects to be manipulated. Add Sub-Alerter Each Sub-Alerter only allows a single format to be applied that meets the specified crite ria. You may wish to actually have different formats for different sets of conditions. You could create an Alerter for each condition but it is be tter to create a new Sub-Alerter for each condition in the one Alerter Alerter Formatting The Alerter Formatting window allows a range of changes to be made to the format. Talis Education Page 73

74 Options Display Text Background Preview Description The display box allows a text string to be entered. If a string is entered this will replace the contents of a cell that matches the conditions defined. If it is blank then the formatting will be applied to the cell contents. If text is inserted then by default it will be treated as text and displayed as such. However by selecting the Read contents as checkbox the text can be read as a hyperlink, HTML or an image URL. If the cell is a number then the Number format button will allow the number format to be changed. By default the number format will be the format currently assigned to the cell. The button allows formulas to be used. The Text section allows the font, text size, colour and positioning to be selected. It is also possible to make the text bold, italics, bold italics, underlined or strikethrough. The Background section allows the cell background to be changed. The background colour can be altered as can the borders. It is also possible to put a image or a skin in the background. The preview box will show what will happen to the cell. To apply the Alerter to a colu mn, row or cell then select the required column, row or cell and click on the Alerter icon. Click on the box next to the alerter you want to use and click on OK. Talis Education Page 74

75 A more complicated Alerter using images can be set up so that as well as the figures the performance is a given a graphical twist. ACTIVITY 22: Create and apply different Alerters to a table. Talis Education Page 75

76 7.7 Sections Sectioning a report is similar to inserting breaks in that it allows you to group data except that the grouped values appears as a header outside the block. Another difference is that while breaks only break across a block, sections groups the entire report. All blocks within the section are affected by the section. Measures inserted into sections are based on the section. For example here is a table showing number of borrowers by borrower type and then the same data as a chart. A section is added to break down the data by home site. This is done by dragging the home site object into the report. A note Drop here to create a section is displayed while your finger holds the right button on the mouse. Both the table and chart blocks and the totals reflect the section. Even if a block is dropped in at a later date the data displayed would be grouped by the section. Using sections also help to navigate around a report. By clicking on the Map tab in the Report Manager pane then the sections within a report can be seen as well Talis Education Page 76

77 By clicking on a section the report will jump to display that section in the Document pane. To remove a section select the section header object in the Document pane and then click on the Delete button on the keyboard or right click and select Delete. It is possible to have sections within sections as well. If you want two objects but one section you will have to create a section for each object and then move the second object into the first s section to achieve this. ACTIVITY 23: Create sections based on location, year, month and week. Talis Education Page 77

78 8. Formatting Reports As can be seen the formatting of reports can be done via the toolbars or via right-click menus. However the full formatting potential of Talis Decisions is accessed via the Properties pane. This can be accessed via the Properties tab in the Report Manager or it can be displayed as a separate pane. The options in the Properties pane depend on the currently selected part of the report. There are different sets of properties for different aspects of the report e.g sections, tables, cells and charts. The options in the Properties tab can be displayed in a number of ways that are controlled by buttons at the top of the Properties pane. Options Description This button displays the properties in groups e.g. Appearance, Page layout. This is the default view. Display properties in alphabetical order. Show a description of the selected properties at the bottom on the pane. This is on by default. When properties are grouped they are displayed in tree format and these may not always be open. This button opens all groups.. and this button closed all groups. When viewing properties there may be further options available to choose from or a new window to be displayed. These can be accessed via the button at the end of the data entry field. The will only be visible when the mouse is moved over the button. Any size measurements are displayed in the format defined in the User Settings. By default this is pixels (px) but could be inches ( ) or centimetres (cm). Talis Education Page 78

79 8.1 Report Properties The report properties are: Group Options Description General Appearance Page Layout Name The report display name Document Will display Document Properties pane. Properties Background color Background image Unvisited hyperlinks color Visited hyperlinks color Top margin Bottom margin Left margin Right margin Shows the colour of the page background. This is displayed as a colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change Can select a skin from a list or use an image accessed from an image URL. Specify the colour of unvisited hyperlinks. By default they will have no colour. Specify the colour of visited hyperlinks. By default they will have no colour. The size of the top margin. This does not include the header which has its own properties section. The size of the bottom margin. This does not include the header which has its own properties section. The size of the left margin. The size of the right margin. Page size A range of page sizes. Defaults to A4. Page orientation Portrait or Landscape. Defaults to Landscape Talis Education Page 79

80 8.2 Header/Footer Properties The header/footer properties are: Group Options Description Appearance Background color Background image Shows the colour of the page background. This is displayed as a colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change Can select a skin from image URL. a list or use an image accessed from an Talis Education Page 80

81 8.3 Section Properties The report properties are: Group Options Description General Name The section name. It will default to Section on: followed by the object on which the section is built. Display Appearance Page layout Position Minimum height Show when empty Hide section when the following is empty Bookmark section Background color Background image Top edge Top edge Relative to Start on a new page Avoid page break in section Sets the section minimum height Displays the element even when empty Option to hide section if there are no values in the section objects or if a specified block is empty. Unchecking this option will prevent the section headings appearing in the Map tab. Shows the colour of the page background. This is displayed as a colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change Can select a skin from a list or use an image accessed from an image URL. Listed but blank. Sorts Sort priority Of no use in Sections. Able to define the position relative to list of points. This allows the changing of the value only in the option above. Only shown depending on the value assigned under the position option. Not editable from this point. Set block to start on a new page. Useful in printing System will try to avoid splitting a page break through a section but this may not be possible. Useful in printing. Talis Education Page 81

82 8.4 Table Properties The table properties are: Talis Education Page 82

83 Group Options Description General Display Appearance Header/Body/ Footer cells Same set of options for each group Name Cell spacing Show table headers Show table footers Avoid duplicate row aggregation Show rows with empty measure values Show rows with empty dimension values Show when empty Background color Background image Borders Text Format Text Format Font name Text Format Size Text Format Style Text Format Underline The table name. Sets the space between cells. Set to between each cell. Show the header rows. Set to Yes by default. Show table footer. Not set to yes by default. zero by default so no space Depending on the nature of the query a number or rows may be brought back for a particular object e.g. if item type and location are brought back there will be a row for each location/item type location. If only the item type information is required Decisions will automatically aggregate the rows for each item type. If this option is set to Yes then the rows will not be aggregated. Not set to Yes by default. If a measure value is empty the data is still shown Set to Yes by default. Show rows with empty dimension values. Not set to Yes by default. Displays the element even when empty. Shows the colour of the table background. This is displayed as a colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change Can select a skin from image URL. a list or use an image accessed from an Shows the current table border elements and links to a window to set border values. No borders to table by default. Displays information on current settings. Clicking on the selection will open a window to change settings. The settings relate to the Text Format sub-functions in the Properties list. You can therefore change the text properties in both locations. Current font in use in table and pull-down for alternatives. Font size Regular, bold, italics, bold italics Underline Talis Education Page 83

84 Group Options Description Alternate Row/Column colors Page layout Position Text Format Strikethrough Text Format Text color Text Format Wrap text Text Format Vertical text alignment Text Format Horizontal text alignment Background color Background image Borders Strikethrough Text colour Wrap text according to cell width. Has no effect if auto fit width is set. Sets vertical text alignment Sets horizontal text alignment. Shows the colour of the cell background. This is displayed as colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change Can select a skin from a list or use an image accessed from an image URL. Shows the current cell border elements and links to a window to set border values. No borders to table by default. Frequency Allows columns and rows to alternate colours. Default is 2 Colour Left edge Top edge Start on new page Repeat on every new page Avoid page break in table Repeat header on every page Repeat footer on every page Alternate cell colour. Listed but not used. Shows details from Left edge and Top edge options. Position of table relative to the left/right edge and to what it is relative e.g. report title or report Position of table relative to the top/bottom edge and to what it is relative e.g. report title or report Start table on a new page Repeat on every new page. System will avoid breaking a table over a page. Show table header on every page the table is displayed. Show table footer on every page the table is displayed. Breaks Break priority Allows the order of breaks to be altered. Sorts Sort priority Allows the order of sorts in the table to be changed. a Talis Education Page 84

85 8.5 Column/Row Properties The column/row properties are: Group Options Description General Text The contents of the row/column. The format =[Item types] indicates the text is taken from an object. Display Appearance Autofit width Adapts the width of the cell to its content. Width Autofit height The width of the column/row. Adapts the height of the cell to its content. Height The height of the column/row. Read cell content as Read the cell as text, hyperlink, HTML of an image URL. Show when Display element even when empty. empty Horizontal padding Vertical padding Spaces added to the left of data. Spaces added to the top of data. Listed but no elements. Talis Education Page 85

86 Group Options Description Text Format Font name Size Style Underline Strikethrough Text color Wrap text Vertical text alignment Horizontal text alignment Background color Displays information on current settings. Clicking on the selection will open a window to change settings. The settings relate to the Text Format sub-functions in the Properties list. You can therefore change the text properties in both locations. Current font in use in table alternatives. Font size Regular, bold, italics, bold italics Underline Strikethrough Text colour and pull-down for Wrap text according to cell width. Has autofit width is set. Sets vertical text alignment Sets horizontal text alignment. no effect if Shows the colour of the cell background. This is displayed as a colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change B ackground Can select a skin from a list or use an image accessed image from an image URL. Borders Merge cells Number format Shows the current cell border elements and links window to set border values. No borders to table by default. Only applicable where more than one row/column selected. Opens window to change number format. Sorts Sort priority Allows the order of sorts in the table to be changed. to a are Talis Education Page 86

87 8.6 Cell Properties The cell properties are: Group Options Description General Text The contents of the cell. Display Appearance Text Format Autofit width Width Autofit height Height Read cell content as Font name Size Style Underline Strikethrough Text color Adapts the width of the cell to its content. The width of the cell Adapts the height of the cell to its content. The height of the cell. Read the cell as text, hyperlink, HTML of an image URL. Listed but no elements. Displays information on current settings. Clicking on the selection will open a window to change settings. The settings relate to the Text Format sub-functions in the Properties list. You can therefore change the text properties in both locations. Current font in use in table and pull-down for alternatives. Font size Regular, bold, italics, bold italics Underline Strikethrough Text colour Talis Education Page 87

88 Group Options Description Position Wrap text Vertical text alignment Horizontal text alignment Background color Background image Borders Merge cells Number format Left edge Top edge Repeat on every new page Wrap text according to cell width. Has no effect if autofit width is set. Sets vertical text alignment Sets horizontal text alignment. Shows the colour of the cell background. This is displayed as a colour and as a three three-digit numbers e.g. standard RGB notation. It is possible to change Can select a skin from from an image URL. a list or use an image accessed Shows the current cell border elements and links to a window to set border values. No borders to table by default. Only applicable where more than one row/column are selected. Opens window to change number format. Shows details from Left edge and Top edge options. Also able to access window to Position of cell relative to the left/right edge and to what it is relative e.g. report title or report or block. Position of cell relative to the top/bottom edge and to what it is relative e.g. report title or report or block Sets the cell to appear on every new page. Talis Education Page 88

89 8.7 Chart Properties The chart properties vary between types of chart. All charts have the following sections Group Options Description General Name Name of the chart. This can be changed. Display Avoid duplicate row duplication Depending on the nature of the query a number or rows may be brought back for a particular object e.g. if item type and location are brought back there will be a row for each location/item type location. If only the item type information is required Decisions will automatically aggregate the rows for each item type. If this option is set to Yes then the rows will not be aggregated. Page layout Show rows with empty dimension values Show when empty 3D Look Width Height Start on new page Repeat on every new page Avoid page break in chart Position Not set to Yes by default. Show rows with empty dimension values. Not set to Yes by default. Displays the element even when empty. Not available on 3D charts, pie charts and radar charts. The width of the chart The height of the chart Sets the chart to start on a new page Sets the chart to repeats on every new page Avoids breaking a chart over a more than one page if possible. Position of chart relative to the report or a heading Sorts Sort priority Can adjust any sorts applied to chart. All charts have an Appearance section although this varies depending on the type of chart but it short the following can be controlled: Chart background Legend Chart title Values including palettes of colours X, Y and Z axis formatting. Labels and scales. ACTIVITY 24: Create report, cells, tables and charts and then alter their properties. Talis Education Page 89

90 8.8 Number Formatting There are a number formats that have been predefined or that can be added to and modified. Select a cell, column or row and then right-click and select Number Format. The default format types have no formatting but as you move through the types the format properties change. Select the one required and click O K to apply the format. Check the Custom check box and the four c hoices Positive, Negative, Equal to Zero and Undefined can be modified and added to the Properties list. Cl ick on the Help button for more details about setting up number formats. ACTIVITY 25: Alter the number format of a measure. 8.9 Cutting and pasting into other documents Any block e. g. table or chart can be copied onto the Microsoft Clipboard and then used in another application. The table or chart is an image and so cannot be changed or updated directly from the Decisions Server. Talis Education Page 90

91 9. Formulas and Variables Formulas are complex calculations using objects and functions. These formulas can deal with numeric, date, time and strings. They can be complex with if-then-else logic and Boolean logic. A variable is a formula that has been saved with a name. The variable then appears in the Report Manager. The variable can then be selected multiple times in a report and across reports in a document. 9.1 Formula Editor The icon opens the Formula Toolbar. The Editor will display any formulas when a column, row or cell is highlighted that exist. In the example above the formula =[Total issues/renews] indicates the Total issues/renews object. By highlighting an empty column created in the table and entering =[Total issues/renews] and then clicking on to save the formula then the issues/renews measure is displayed in the new column The icon would remove any changes made to the formula and revert it back to its previously saved state. However by adding *1.25 to the end of the formula the issues/renews figure can be increased by 25 percent. Talis Education Page 91

92 This manual method of creating a formula relies on a user knowing all the possible functions and their syntax. In order to help users there is a Formula Editor that can be accessed by clicking on the icon on the Formula Toolbar. The Formula Editor has a number of sections: Data tab displays the objects selected in the queries and any user-defined variables Function tab displays all the functions available in Web Intelligence. This can be listed alphabetically or in groups. Appendix One has the full list of these functions. Operators tab displays all the operators required for numeric and comparison operations. Validate and Cancel buttons The Validate button will check the syntax of the formula and report any errors. This is automatically done when OK is clicked. The Cancel button will revert the formula back to its last saved configuration. The Formula Text where the formula is created. Description area Displays descriptions of objects, functions and operators. There will also be a link to a help on a function or operator. Functions Tab Operators Tab Cancel Validate Data Tab Formula text Description Area By moving through the tabs and double-clicking the required options it is possible to build up the formula. Talis Education Page 92

93 To achieve the same formula as before delete the formula text. 1. Open the Formula Editor 2. Select the object Total issues/renews 3. Move to the Operator tab and select * 4. Type 1.25 in the Formula text area Clicking on OK will return you to the Formula Toolbar (Assuming there are no errors). If you want to create a variable from this formula click on the icon in the Formula Toolbar. This opens a new window that allows you to assign a name and a qualification e.g. dimension, detail or measure. Talis Education Page 93

94 The variable will now appear in the Report Manager Viewed in Alphabetical order Viewed by Query There is a whole range of functions outlined in Appendix One. Variables can be created as detailed above or directly by click on the icon in the Report Toolbar. The Variable Editor includes a Variable Definition section to add the name of the variable and the qualification, along with the sections from the Formula editor. A variable name must be added. It is also possible to create a variable by right-clicking on the Variable class in the Report Manager when it is viewed in Query mode. If a variable is highlighted in the Report Manager the variable can be edited, deleted or duplicated. Duplication can be very useful where a number of similar variables need to be created. Variables can be used in formulas and other variables to create complex sets of variables. Variables are also useful for combining text from the database or report into cells e.g. creating a title that uses the values from prompts. ACTIVITY 26: Create formulas and variables with in the document. Talis Education Page 94

95 10. Synchronising Data As has been seen previously it is possible to create multiple queries in the Query panel from one or many universes. Each query generates a microcube (or data provider). The data from these microcubes can then be used in creating blocks in a report. Circulation Universe Block 1 Block 2 Reservation Universe Block 3 Block 4 Blocks 1 and 2 are different views on the data from the data from one query using the Circulation universe. Block 3 displays data from a different query using the Circulation universe. Block 4 displays data from a query using the Reservation universe. Data synchronisation allows data from different microcubes to be combined in blocks based on common dimension objects. Circulation Universe Block 1 Reservation Universe Block 2 Block 1 is created by combining the data from two different queries against the Circulation universe into a single block. Talis Education Page 95

96 Block 2 is created by combining the data from two different queries, one using the Circulation universe and the other using the Reservation universe, in a single block. Example 1. Create a query using the Circulation Universe Result Objects: Barcode from the Borrower details class Total loan transactions Query Filter: Issue/renew/discharge breakdown in list Issue;Renew Run the query and a report will be created with a list of borrower barcodes and a number of loan transactions. 2. Click on and create a second query using the Reservation Universe Result Objects: Barcode from the Borrower details class Total Reservations There will be a prompt about how to include the data from the new query in the document. Make sure the Insert a table in a new report option is selected. There are now two reports with two lists but the objective is to combine the data from the two queries so that for each barcode the number of issues/renews and the number of reservations is included in the same table. 3. In the Report Manager arrange the objects by Query. Insert a blank report to hold the new table. Select the four objects from the two queries using the mouse and Ctrl key and drag the objects into the empty report. 4. The report displays an error 5. If you remove one of the barcodes then the display will be like Talis Education Page 96

97 Again this is not correct. This is because the two common dimensions haven t been automatically synchronised. This will be attempted but if the objects do not have the same name or in different class structures in the universes the automatic synchronisation can fail and it has to be done manually. 6. Click on the icon on the Report Toolbar to open the Merge Dimensions window. The window shows the dimensions in each query that are available to be merged and also any dimensions that have already been merged either automatically or manually. It is best to merge all dimensions that can be logically merged together. 7. Select the dimensions to be merg ed and then click the merge button. A window will be displayed that shows the Source dimensions, the name for the merged dimension which can be changed for clarity and a description. The Merge Dimension window will now look like: Talis Education Page 97

98 8. The report will now be updated and look like this There are now values for each borrower in both measures. Where a borrower has no reservations or no loans this is shown as an empty cell. It is possible to modify the number format to show zero for undefined cells. To ensure that all values are displayed even if there are no values for both dimensions select the Extend merged dimension values option in the Document Properties In the Report Manager a new class called is created called Merged Dimensions. In this is the merged dimension that was created and if this is e xpanded you are shown the merged dimension objects. There is no need for both Barcode objec ts to be included and it is better to use the merged dimension object. The barcodes can be updated and the report will look like: Talis Education Page 98

99 Some rules about synchronising with merged dimensions 1. You can only link on dimension objects. 2. The dimension objects do not have to have the same name. 3. The dimension objects must have a common data format. 4. Although actual values do not have to be the same, all data held in the microcube is case sensitive and therefore any common values must be in the same case. 5. The format of the values must be the same. 6. Any number of queries can be linked by common dimension objects. 7. Any number of dimension objects can be merged between two queries. 8. A measure object can be synchronised successfully only to the lowest level of detail that is common between two different data sources. ACTIVITY 27: Repeat the above example. Talis Education Page 99

100 11. Drilling Drilling is possible where more data is in the data cube than is being displayed. It is then possible to look in more detail at layers through the data. Create a query in the Circulation universe that has Total loan transactions, Issue/renew/discharge breakdown, Site of loan and the Year, Month, Day and Hour objects from Loans Date Reporting e.g. the date of the transaction. In the report just have the Year and Total loan transactions objects displayed. Click on the button in the Report toolbar. The dimensions become links e.g. underlined so it is possible to drill down from 1999 to see the data by month in 1999 and then dill down into month 10 (October) to see the data by day for October 1999 and then drill down in to 30 October 1999 to see the data by hour on that day The arrow in the header allows the user to drill upwards. When the Drill button was first clicked the empty Drill tool bar was displayed. As the drilling continues objects are added to the toolbar for each drill action. At the end the Drill toolbar looks like: Talis Education Page 100

101 It is now possible to select values from here so if you wanted to look at 30 October 2000 the values can be selected from here. When drilling you may find a view of the data you wish to keep to either share or to compare with data in future drills. A snapshot of the data can be taken and inserted into a new report by clicking on the button. Once a snapshot has been taken it is no longer connected to the drilling report. Care needs to be taken with drilling as not all reports will be suitable for such actions. ACTIVITY 27: Set up a drilling example and use drill options and Snapshot. Talis Education Page 101

102 12. Sharing Objects and Documents Within InfoView you will now have a set of documents in your personal area that have been created in Web Intelligence and that we want to share with other people. A Web Intelligence document can be shared by Saving it to the corporate area either with a new name or as a shortcut so it is available to all. Sending it or a shortcut to another InfoView user or group of users so it appears in their Info View Inbox Sending it by to people in PDF or Excel format. FTPing the document to a machine in PDF or Excel format Saving the document in PDF or Excel format to a networked drive. The , FTP and disk options may not have been configured on installation so any attempt to use then would be unsuccessful. There is no point sending a document in Web Intelligence format by , FTP or to disk as such files are not viewable outside of Decisions Sending documents to BusinessObjects Inboxes Select the file you want to send by selecting the document in the document list and clicking on the button on the Navigation bar. 1. From the Send drop-down select To BusinessObjects Inbox 2. Destination: Deselect the option to use the Job Server s defaults. These defaults will be defined by the System Administrator. Deselecting the option allows you to decide. 3. Choose: From here it is possible to pick users or groups to have the report sent to them. Talis Education Page 102

103 4. Target name: Use the radio buttons to determine whether the system will automatically generate a name for the document or a Specific name entered by you or selected from the drop down list of placeholders is assigned. 5. Send As: By default what will be sent is a shortcut to the original document rather than a copy. Doing this saves space as a copy would have to be held on the system for each user Sending documents to accounts Select the file you want to send by selecting the document in the document list and clicking on the button on the Navigation bar. 1. Select To and deselect the option to use the Job Server s defaults. These defaults will be defined by the System Administrator. Deselecting the option allows the user to decide. Talis Education Page 103

104 The form is very similar to the one shown above. Talis Education Page 104

105 12.3 Scheduling a Web Intelligence document As well as manually sending a document it can be scheduled to be refreshed and sent to BusinessObjects Inboxes, to accounts, via FTP or to a disk location. When a document is scheduled to run an instance of that report is created. It is connected to the original document but exists separately. This means that the data in each instance may well differ from the original document particularly if the query or report have been changed between runs. In the document list there are a number of options (assuming that they have been hidden) Click on the Schedule link. A number of sections will be displayed: Caching Options, Server Group and Events are not covered in this course. All dates can be entered manually for from a pop-up calendar indicated by the icon. Options Sub-Options Description Instance title When Now Once Hourly Daily Weekly Monthly By default the instance will have the same name as the original document but this can be altered. By default the document is scheduled to refresh as soon as it is scheduled. The object will run once at the time specified. Document will be run every N hours and X minutes for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Document will run once every N days for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. The report will run every week for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. It is possible to select more than one day of the week. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Document will be run every N months for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Talis Education Page 105

106 Options Sub-Options Description Destination Format Nth Day of Month 1 st Monday of Month Last Day of Month X Day of Nth Week of the Month Calendar Default Enterprise Location Inbox Recipients File location FTP Server Web Intelligence Microsoft Excel Adobe Acrobat Document will be run every Nth day of each month for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Document will be run every 1 st Monday of each month for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Document will be run on the last day of each month for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Document will be run on the X day of the Nth week of each month for a specified date range. Range defaults to 10 years. The time run will be the time of the Start Time. Nth can be First, Second, Third, Fourth or Fifth. X can be Sunday to Saturday. Calendars are user defined schedules set up by System Administrators. This means the instance is created but is not sent to anyone but is accessible from the History link for the object. Settings are the same as for Send. Settings are the same as for Send. This is not available if the format is Web Intelligence. Otherwise settings are the same as for Send. This is not available if the format is Web Intelligence. Otherwise settings are the same as for Send. Send the document as a Web Intelligence document.. While allowed to do this for is not advised sending Web intelligence files are not viewable externally from InfoView. Can be sent as an Excel document. Can be sent as an PDF document. Click on the button to set the scheduled job up. A History screen will then be displayed. It will show the current instance and its status and all the previous instances. The Status will show if the job is Pending, Running, Success or Failure. The button will refresh the view. Talis Education Page 106

107 This screen can be accessed from the History link in the Document list.. The Document list will also have a link to the last instance. CONFIGURATION: Ensure the password in the configuration in the CMC is up-to-date. ACTIVITY 28: Schedule a document using the Loan Aggregates Universe to run now and to run in a few minutes time. Repeat this changing the source Inbox or and change the format of the reports and the default values. 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Timeouts ha ve timeouts associated with them. This timeout is approximately 10 minutes. While it is possible to adjust these, it is important to save reports as you are developing them even if it is without data. If it is likely that a job will take more than 10 minutes it would be advisable to schedule the document to be refreshed now Shortcuts Drag and drop Windows functionality exists within Decisions for selecting and resizing features in the documents. The same is true for selecting mult iple objects with shift and or Ctrl buttons. TIP: When dragging object(s) into the report it is possible that the report will create a new section rather than a new block. To force the creation of a new block press the Alt key while dragging and dropping the object(s) Templates It is not possible to have a template document as such. A new document will pick up the standard defaults and any changes will have to be inserted. However there is a route around this. Create a document with the colours, images etc and a very basic query with no data. Save this document in the corporate area. Users then open this document and then save it under a new name. They can then make changes to the query but the general formatting is now correct. You may require a number of files for different types of document. It is also advisable to have a back-up copy of the templates. Talis Education Page 107

108 14. Desktop Intelligence Desktop Intelligence is a client reporting tool. This means it must be installed on a PC. It was previously known as BusinessObjects Reporter of the Full Client. There is no great difference between the two in terms of functionality although the interface has been refreshed in terms of look. Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence have very similar functionality but the way of accessing that functionality is different. The syntax of formulas and conditions is slightly different e.g. commas are used in Desktop Intelligence but semi-colons in Web Intelligence. There are also differences in some defaults between the two. If you have used BusinessObjects Reporter you will find Desktop Intelligence the same. The development focus of Business Objects is on Web Intelligence. Desktop Intelligence documents can be uploaded to InfoView via Desktop Intelligence. These documents can be viewed and refreshed via Info View. It is not possible to edit these documents directly in InfoView. It is only possible if Desktop Intelligence is installed on the PC running the browser accessing InfoView. Once a Desktop Intelligence document has been exported to InfoView it is possible to convert the report to a Web Intelligence version using the Report Conversion Tool. The Report Conversion Tool is another client tool and its operation is covered in the Administration Course. It is not always possible to convert or fully convert a Desktop Intelligence document to a Web Intelligence document. Another client tool is the Publisher which allow the batch uploading of objects into InfoView that are not Web Intelligence or Desktop Intelligence documents. This can save uploading each object one at a time in Info View. This tool is covered in the Administration course. ACTIVITY 29: Use Desktop Intelligence to create a document in Loan Aggregates universe. Talis Education Page 108