Data Formatting and Data Shaping

The Dashboard can be extensively formatted and shaped.

Formatting Numeric Values

• To define a format for numeric values, select Format from the Data Item menu.This invokes the Numeric Format window.

  

  • In the Format type field, select the required format type.

  Currency Format

  • To define which currency to use for a data item, select Format from the Data Item menu.
  • In the Numeric Format dialog, select Currency , in the Format type field and use the Currency drop-down box to select the preferred currency.

  

  For regions with several cultures, you can also select the culture that will be used to format currency values.

  Formatting Date-Time Values

  • To define a format for date-time values, use the Format sub-menu in the Data Item menu.

  

  This sub-menu lists the available format types that depend upon the selected group interval (for details on group intervals, see Grouping).

  Data Shaping

  Summarization

  To obtain numeric values that should be displayed within a dashboard item, the Dashboard calculates a summary function against the specified measure.

  Changing Summary Type

  The Dashboard Designer calculates by default Sum for numeric measures and Count for measures that contain another type of data.

  • You can change the summary function type for numeric measures.
  • Invoke the Data Item menu and select the desired summary type.

  Note! Less common summary types are organized in the More sub-menu.

  

  Grouping

  Group on dimension values and display summaries for entire groups rather than individual values.

  • You can arrange dimension values in groups of different sizes by specifying the appropriate group interval . For instance, date-time values can be grouped by years, months, quarters, etc.

  Text Group Intervals

  String values support the following grouping intervals.
  Example : A, B, C, … Z

  Date-Time Group Intervals

  Date-time values support the following group intervals.

  Example: Year, Month, Quarter; Day, etc.

  To change the group interval, invoke the data item menu and select the desired group interval.

  Note! Less common group intervals are organized in the More sub-menus.

  

  Sorting

  You can easily change the sort order and you can also enable sorting by parameter values.

  The sort order of dimension values is indicated with an arrow.

  • To change the sort order, click the data item. You can also toggle sorting from the data item menu.

  

  Sorting by Parameter Values

  You can also sort dimension values by a specific parameter represented by a measure.

  • To enable sorting by measure, use the Sort by sub-menu in the Dimension’s menu.

  

  Filtering

  You can apply filtering to each individual data Dashboard item.

  Apply Filtering

  Although we suggest to use filtering on the Query level you can also apply filters in the Dashboard Designer.

  

  • Select the Dashboard item and click on the Filter button on the Data menu bar.
  • You can also right click the Dashboard item and select Edit Filter.

  Note! You can also use hidden dimensions in the Filter Editor dialog, allowing you to filter data based on their values.

  Clear Filtering

  • Select the Dashboard item and click on the Clear Filter button on the Data menu bar.
  • You can also right click the Dashboard item and select Clear.

  Top N

  The Top N feature allows you to display only a limited number of values that correspond to the highest or lowest values of a particular parameter.

  • To display the top values in a dimension, select Top N from the Data Item menu.

  

  This invokes the Top N Values dialog.

  

  • In this dialog, check the Enabled check box and specify the following settings.
    • Count: The number of values to be displayed.
    • Measure: The parameter according to which the top or bottom values will be determined.
    • Show Others value: If this option is enabled, all values that are not the top/bottom ones are consolidated in the “Others” value.