Web Intelligence allows you to access, analyze, and share corporate data over intranets and extranets for both relational databases (RDBMS) and online analytical processing (OLAP) servers. To access Web Intelligence, you can log into the BusinessObjects portal InfoView via your internet browser. You can then create and edit Web Intelligence documents and analyze the data displayed in them. Using InfoView, you can share documents with other users. Web Intelligence can also be used offline as Web Intelligence Rich Client, a standalone Microsoft Windows application that you can install on your computer. Web Intelligence Rich Client lets you continue to work with Web Intelligence documents (WID) when you are unable to connect to InfoView, when you want to perform calculations locally rather than on the server, or when your organization chooses to deploy Web Intelligence without installing BusinessObjects Enterprise servers or an application server. You can also use Web Intelligence Rich Client while connected to the BusinessObjects Enterprise repository. This repository is known as the Central Management Server, or "the CMS". If you use Web Intelligence Rich Client while connected to the CMS, you are working in "connected" mode. In connected mode, you can export documents that you have created locally, so that InfoView users can access them in the CMS repository. Understanding the semantic layer Web Intelligence allows you to access and analyze your organization's data by means of a semantic layer in one or more BusinessObjects universes. This semantic layer is a view of your organization's data, presented as one or more universes. Web Intelligence utilizes universes to provide access to data. Using a universe's businessoriented view of the data, you can create queries in Web Intelligence and get information using your own everyday terms. The terms you need to be familiar with in order to understand how this semantic layer functions are: • Object • Class • Predefined query filter • Universe Object Objects are elements in a universe that map to a specific set of data in a relational database. Each object in a BusinessObjects universe is defined with a business term that is commonly used in your organization, such as Country, Year, Revenue, Customer name, Customer address, and so on.
Class Classes are logical groupings of related objects. Predefined query filter Query filters are used to restrict the data returned by an object used in a query. Later in this course, you will learn more about the different types of objects that are available in universes, as well as the role of the pre-defined query filter in the universe. Universe A BusinessObjects universe relates the objects for a business area such as finance, sales, human resources, or purchasing departments to your organization's data stored in its databases. The diagram above shows the eFashion universe which defines the objects that you use in this course. Universes are created by a universe designer who is familiar with your organization's databases using BusinessObjects Designer. The universe designer then makes the universes available to you and other users in InfoView, the BusinessObjects portal. When you create Web Intelligence documents, you first select a universe to query the database where the data that interests you is stored. The Business Objects business intelligence platform separates users from the complexity and diversity of databases and associated technologies. It uses business terminology that is shared throughout the enterprise. Because it takes less time to gather information, users can concentrate on their analysis to make the best decisions. Querying with Web Intelligence When you build a query in the Web Intelligence Query panel, you select the universe objects and query filters that represent your business question. The query is sent to the Web Intelligence server, if you are connected to the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS, which generates the final Structured Query Language (SQL) statements, the language used to query the database. The SQL query is then sent to the database to retrieve the data mapped to the objects you selected. The database returns rows of data to the Web Intelligence server, which populates the data as a microcube, called a data provider. This information is then formatted and displayed in a Web Intelligence report as a simple table, or even a complex chart, ready for your analysis. A Web Intelligence document can contain multiple reports and each report may have been built using different queries. Once you run the query and retrieve the data that interests you, you can structure and organize the data as you wish in the Web Intelligence document. Reporting with Web Intelligence
You can use Web Intelligence document features to create professional reports from the data you retrieve. Once you have the data you need, you can display or present it in multiple ways: • As a table (horizontal, vertical, form or cross tab) • As a chart (bar, line, area, pie or radar) • As a multiple-block report containing large amounts of data Describing Web Intelligence and BusinessObjects Users can choose to access Web Intelligence either as a stand-alone application on theirdesktop, or as a web application from within the BusinessObjects Enterprise portal, InfoView. BusinessObjects Enterprise overview BusinessObjects Enterprise is a business intelligence (BI) platform that combines end-user insight with flexible systems management for a single BI standard. This allows administrators to confidently deploy and standardize their BI implementations on a proven, scalable, and adaptive service-oriented architecture. BusinessObjects Enterprise stores Web Intelligence documents, as well as Crystal reports, Desktop Intelligence documents, Crystal Xcelsius models, Voyager workspaces, spreadsheets, and other documents. With BusinessObjects Enterprise, users can access this information and organize it to suit their preferences. About InfoView BusinessObjects Enterprise comes with InfoView, a web desktop that acts as a window to a broad range of useful business information around your company. InfoView collects and consolidates a company’s BI information and presents it in a secure, focused, and personalized view to users inside and outside an organization. InfoView lets users personalize how they view, manage, and distribute BI content. It is both a standalone BI portal (BIP), as well as a BI content provider for enterprise information portals (EIPs). Using InfoView, you can open existing Web Intelligence documents and create new ones, using InfoView's Web Intelligence report panels. Sharing documents with InfoView users InfoView allows you to share your documents with colleagues. You can choose to save them as public documents, and if your colleagues are InfoView users, you can send your documents directly to them. The BusinessObjects Central Management Server (CMS) stores sent and public documents and enables others to retrieve them.
If they do not use InfoView, you can save your reports in Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF format, so that your colleagues can easily view and print them. Depending on how Web Intelligence has been deployed in your organization, you can share Web Intelligence documents in many ways: • Save documents as files on your workstation, in Web Intelligence WID format, or in Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel, or .CSV format. • Send in an email as an attachment, in Web Intelligence .WID, Adobe PDF, or Microsoft Excel format. • Export documents to the CMS as a public or personal document. • From within InfoView, send a document to another user or group of users. • From within InfoView, save a document as a public or personal document in the CMS. • From within InfoView, schedule documents to be refreshed and sent automatically by using the InfoView scheduler. Depending on the rights assigned to you by your administrator you may be able to schedule and view a list of your scheduled documents. When you schedule a document you specify a time and a date to refresh it and send it to other users. About the query process The query is sent to the Web Intelligence server. The Web Intelligence server retrieves the data from the database and stores it in a microcube. The contents of the microcube are then formatted and displayed in a Web Intelligence report in the form of tables, cross tabs and charts for your analysis.
Universes and objects A BusinessObjects universe is the semantic layer that maps everyday terms that describe your business environment to data stored in the database. Using a universe, you can retrieve the data that interests you simply by dragging and dropping the desired objects. Objects represent a selection of data Ideally, the universe designer names the object with the business terms that you use in your everyday activity, such as Sales revenue, or Customer name. You use these objects to build queries and retrieve the data you want to show in your report.
There are three different types of objects. Dimension - Retrieves the data that provides the basis for analysis in a report. Dimension objects typically retrieve character-type data, for example, customer names, store names
or dates. Detail - Provides descriptive data about a dimension. A detail is always attached to the dimension for which it provides additional information. For example, the Customer dimension could have Age and Address associated with it because they provide
additional information about a Customer. Measure - Retrieves numeric data that is the result of calculations on data in the database. For example, Revenue is the calculation of the number of items sold multiplied by the item price. Measure objects are often located in a Measures class. Query Filter- Restricts the information returned by objects, such as limiting data concerning revenue to a specific year. Filters can also prompt the person viewing the report to select a value, such as the query filter "Which product?" Launching Web Intelligence Rich Client The Web Intelligence Rich Client application is a locally installed Microsoft Windows application that lets you create and edit Web Intelligence documents that are stored either locally on your desktop, or in the BusinessObjects repository. You can launch Web Intelligence Rich Client in one of three working modes: • Connected mode: Web Intelligence Rich Client is connected to the BusinessObjects Enterprise repository, also known as the Central Management Server, or CMS. You can work with documents from the BusinessObjects repository or with local documents. Note: In connected mode, user authentication may be handled by different security models: Enterprise, LDAP, Windows AD, Windows NT, or SAP. • Offline mode: Web Intelligence Rich Client is not connected to the CMS repository, but applies CMS security. You can work with local documents and universes that are secured by the CMS you select at logon, or with unsecured local documents and universes. In Offline mode, you cannot import documents from or export documents to the CMS repository. • Standalone mode: Web Intelligence Rich Client is not connected to a CMS and no security is enforced. You can work with local, unsecured documents and universes only. You cannot import documents from or export documents to a CMS.
Note: When Web Intelligence Rich Client is already running on your computer, launching it again opens a new instance of the application. When you double-click a Web Intelligence document, the document does not open in the application instance that was already open. the new Web Intelligence document: • The query definition. • The data returned by the query. • One or more reports. • One or more blocks of data (tables, charts) presented in the report(s), and the formatting you have applied to the blocks. • Local variables and alerters defined within the document. To create a new Web Intelligence document, you: • Choose a data source for the query. • Build and run a query. • Save the new document. Note: If you have already created a document or are editing an existing document, you can create a new document at any time simply by clicking Document . New from the Web Intelligence Rich Client menu bar. Saving a new document You can save a document that you have created with Web Intelligence Rich Client locally on your desktop or by exporting it to the CMS. By default, the Refresh on open option is not selected so that users always see the original data that was retrieved when the document was created or last refreshed, and which was stored in the document when it was saved. To see the most recent data available in the database, users can refresh the document manually when they open it. Or, you can choose to select this option to ensure that the data is updated automatically each time the document is opened. If you select the Permanent regional formatting check box, it overrides the user’s default viewing options and always display the document’s original regional setting for language and time stamping. If you are saving the document as a Web Intelligence document, choose options: Option
Description
The document automatically refreshes when it is opened
Refresh on open Permanent formatting
regional The current regional settings (locale) for formatting are applied regardless of what the locale is on the machine where it is opened.
Save for all users
All security information stored in the document is removed, making it accessible to all users and able to be opened in Standalone mode.
Remove document security
Default document security is removed.
Select a file type. The file type that you select filters documents shown in the display box. You can save in three formats: • Web Intelligence document • PDF document • Excel document Note: If you save as a PDF or Excel document, you cannot enter a description or keywords and the Web Intelligence Document options are unavailable. Interrupting data retrieval When the query runtime is particularly long or you want to limit the demand on server resources, for example, you can click the Cancel button in the Retrieving Data dialog box to interrupt the query before Web Intelligence has returned all the data to your document. Next, the Interrupt Data Retrieval dialog box displays with the options for the data you want to display in the report.
The following table describes the options for the data displayed. Option
Restore the results from the previous data retrieval
Description Web Intelligence restores the values to the document that were retrieved the last time the query ran. Consequently, the values displayed do not represent the most recent data available in the database
Purge all data from the document
Web Intelligence displays the document empty of values. The document retains its structure and formatting.
Return the partial results
Web Intelligence displays: * The new values retrieved prior to the interruption of data retrieval in the appropriate parts of the document • The values retrieved at the last refresh in the rest of the document
To project data into a table When dragging and dropping objects onto a block, do not drop the objects onto a column header or footer. The results will not display as expected. Objects should be dropped in the detail cells of the block. Note: If the tooltip "Drop here to replace a cell" displays, then you will replace the current column with the new object's data. The sections you see in the Properties tab are described in the table below.
Note: In the query properties, you can place additional restrictions on the document relative to the restrictions that already exist on the unvierse, the Web Intelligence server,
and the database where the data was retrieved. You cannot override restrictions that may already be in place. Viewing the query's SQL When you build a query, Web Intelligence automatically generates the appropriate SQL to retrieve the data from the database that you are accessing. You can view and edit this SQL, and even copy and paste it to another application. The purpose of query filters Query filters retrieve a subset of the available data, based on the definition of the filter. For example, you can apply a query filter on the Year dimension, to view only Sales revenue for a specific year. Restricting the query ensures that you retrieve only the data that interests you. This increases the usefulness of your reports. It minimizes the quantity of data returned and reduces the time required to create and refresh the document over the network. Using query filters has the following advantages: • You retrieve and are able to focus on only the data you need to answer a specific business question. • You hide data you do not want specific users to see when they access the document. • You minimize the quantity of data returned to the document to optimize performance. Some universes have predefined filters built into them by the universe designer. Other times, you will want to create your own query filters to limit the data. Users without rights to edit the query cannot modify the query filters you define. This ensures that the data saved with a document is appropriate for those who view or analyze the data within that document. Note: Your administrator can prevent objects from being filtered. If you create filters on these objects, when you try to run the query a warning appears listing the filters that you cannot use. You need to remove these filters from the query in order to run the query. Components of a query filter Filters are created in the Query Filters pane of the Web Intelligence report panels. Query filters are made up of three parts: • Object - the object on which you want to filter data. • Operator - the relationship between the object and operand. Common operators are: Equal to, Different from, Greater than, Greater than or equal to, Less than, and Less than or equal to.
• Operand - the object values to be used for filtering. Every filter must include an object, an operator and an operand. These elements act together to specify what subset of the data you want to retrieve.
There are four types of query filters that you can use in Web Intelligence:
Modifying a query with a predefined query filter A predefined query filter is an element in the universe that allows you to restrict the information returned by specific dimension, detail or measure objects. Predefined query filters are created by the universe designer, and appear in the list of classes and objects in the Web Intelligence Rich Client Query panel , identified by a yellow funnel icon. Applying a single-value query filter A single-value query filter is used to limit the data returned by an object to one single value.
Editing a single-value filter Once you have run the query and reviewed the data displayed in the report, you may decide that you want to include or restrict more values for the object you used to create the query filter Using wildcards in query filters You can use wildcards in query filters to search for partial values rather than the entire value. For example, you can ask for "all product categories that begin with B." To do this, you need to use wildcards as placeholders for partial pattern searches. About wildcards Wildcards are special characters that denote any single character or any number of characters. In Web Intelligence, use the following wildcards: • _ for any single character • % for any number of characters
Creating a query filter with a wildcard You can use wildcards as placeholders for partial pattern searches. When you create the query filter using a wildcard, you must use one of the following relational operators: • Matches pattern: to find values that match the pattern you specify. • Different from pattern: to find values different than the pattern you specify.
Using prompts to restrict data A prompt is a query filter that requires the report user to select the data values that the query retrurns at each refresh. You can design a prompt to allow users to manually enter data or to select data from a list of values. Prompted filters The prompt dialog box allows you to specify the data to retrieve and display in the report. Consquently, you can focus on a specific part of the information available. Prompted filters allow multiple users viewing a single document to specify a different subset of the data and display it in the same tables and charts in the report.
You can use a prompted filter to define a question that is displayed whenever the data in the document is refreshed. Users can answer the prompt either by typing or by selecting values. For example, you can use the prompted query filter to produce a report that shows sales revenue per state and prompts the user to select a product category at each refresh. This way, you do not restrict the data displayed to a single product category, such as Jewelry. Instead, the users select the product category that interests them at that moment. Prompts can be defined on any dimension, measure or detail object listed in the Data tab in Query view. Note: You cannot use the operators Is Null and Not Null when creating prompted filters.
Some important points about prompted query filters: • When the prompt is for a date and you want users to see the popup calendar in order to select the date(s) then do not select Prompt with List of Values. • When the document contains multiple data providers, and there is already a prompt that includes (1) objects with the same data type, (2) operators of the same operator type, and (3) the same prompt text as the new prompt, Web Intelligence displays a warning to tell you that the two prompts will be merged. This means that whenever all the data providers are refreshed, a single prompt message will appear for the two prompts. • When you make a prompt optional, the prompt dialog box displays text to inform report users that when they do not provide a value for the prompt, the filter does not apply.
Using complex filters To further refine information returned to a document you can apply more than one filter to a query. First you need to create the query filters and then determine how they should be applied together. • To return values that are true for two filters, use the AND operator.
• To return values that are true for either of two filters, use the OR operator. After completing this unit you will be able to: • Describe logical operators and how you use them in filters • Apply more than one filter using the AND operator • Apply more than one filter using the OR operator • Prioritize filters so that you are sure to retrieve the correct data
Using logical operators for multiple conditions To produce a report that focuses more precisely on certain data, you may need to apply more than one filter. When you specify more than one filter in a query, the relationship between the filters must use either the AND or OR operator. These are known as logical operators. • The AND operator is used when both conditions defined in the two filters must be met for a row to be returned from the database when you run a query. • The OR operator is used when either one or the other of the conditions defined in the filters must be met for a row to be returned from the database when you run a query. Using the AND operator When you add a second filter to a query, Web Intelligence automatically places either an AND operator between the two conditions. You saw this behavior when you added the predefined filter to your query in the last practice activity. However, when your query had a second filter that you removed from the query and you add a new second filter, by default, Web Intelligence applies the logical operator that was last used. You can switch the operator value between AND and OR by double-clicking it. or an OR operator Using the OR operator When you use the AND operator to group two query filters, your report returns data only if the conditions of both query filters are met. When you use the OR operator to group two query filters, your report returns data if the conditions of either of the query filters are met. For this reason, the OR operator returns more data than the AND operator. By doubleclicking an operator, you can switch its value between AND and OR. Prioritizing operators You are applying a complex filter when you combine several filters in a single query. To ensure that the filters retrieve exactly the data you want, you need to prioritize the
operators. In the Query Filters pane, by positioning the query filter statements and deciding how to group them together, you define which filters will be processed first. The positioning and grouping of the filters depends on the logic of the information you are trying to retrieve. Components of a Web Intelligence document A Web Intelligence document consists of: • One or more reports One document may contain several reports, organized as tabs along the bottom of the window. Reports contain blocks of formatted data as well as text and graphics. You specify the layout when you create a report, and you can also change the layout of existing reports. • One or more blocks A block is a table, cross tab, form, or chart that displays information in the report. • The microcube of data returned by the query, or other data provider The microcube contains the actual data that was retrieved from your corporate database. The microcube is the structure in which the retrieved data is stored in the document. It contains all the data that you can display in the report(s) inside the document. About the Web Intelligence Rich Client reporting interface As you view a Web Intelligence document, the Web Intelligence Rich Client window allows you to interact with and organize the data returned by queries in two ways: • Using menus and toolbars • Using the Report Manager tabs The Report Manager will be presented in detail in the next unit. This section describes the different toolbars you can use as you work on organizing and presenting data in your report. Web Intelligence Rich Client window toolbars As you are viewing and editing reports in Web Intelligence Rich Client, there are four toolbars available to you. • The Standard toolbar • The Reporting toolbar • The Formatting toolbar
• The Page Navigation toolbar
General In the General section, you choose whether to show the welcome wizard each time Web Intelligence Rich Client is started. The welcome wizard lets you select from a list of recently used universes or browse for more data sources to create a new document. Select default universe In this section, you choose whether to select a default universe for new documents. The default universe is preselected in the Universe dialog box when you create a new document. When creating a document, you can use the default universe or select another one. • No default universe means that no universe in the list is preselected when you open the Universe dialog box. You must select a universe from the list when creating a document.
• The other choice shows the name of the default universe, or None if no default universe has been selected. To choose a default universe, click Browse, then browse to and select a universe. Select default folders In this section, you choose the default folders in which to store user documents, universes, and help files. To change the default locations, click Browse, then browse to and select a folder. Note: When Web Intelligence Rich Client is downloaded and installed from InfoView, help files are not installed locally. However, they are installed on the InfoView server. Contact your company's Business Objects administrator to get the URL of the help files on the server, then enter the URL here for help to be available. Select Microsoft Excel format In this section you choose the format to use when you save a document in Microsoft Excel format. • Prioritize easy data processing in the Excel document: the Excel document will be formatted to ensure efficient data processing. • Prioritize the format of reports in the Excel document: the Excel document will be formatted to ensure optimum readability. General In this section, you set the unit of measurement for report display: pixel, inch, or centimeter.
Grid In this section you set grid options: • Show grid: When this is selected, a grid displays to help align page elements. • Snap to grid: When this is selected, page elements align to the grid to enable accurate repositioning. • Grid spacing: This defines the distance between lines on the grid. Locale In this section, you set preferences for interface and formatting locales. A locale is a combination of language and geographical area.
• Select interface locale: Select an available locale to set the application interface language. If you change this setting, you must restart Web Intelligence Rich Client for the change to be taken into account. • Select formatting locale: Select an available locale to determine locale-specific formatting (for example, date and time formats). If you change this setting, any documents that are open must be closed and reopened for the new formatting locale to be applied.
When viewing a document In this section, you set how the formatting locale is decided: • Use the document locale to format the data: When this is selected, data is formatted according to the document locale. The document locale can be saved with the document by means of the permanent regional formatting option that you can select when saving. • Use my formatting locale to format the data: When this is selected, data is formatted according to your formatting locale preference. This overrides the document locale.
For each new drill session In this section, you choose how to start a new drill session: • Start drill on duplicate report: When you start a new drill session, a duplicate report is opened in the document and you drill on the duplicate. When you end drill mode, both the original report and the drilled report remain in the document. • Start drill on existing report: When you start a new drill session, the current report becomes drillable. When you end drill mode, the report displays the drilled values. General drill options • Prompt if drill requires additional data: You are prompted when Web Intelligence needs to retrieve additional data to complete the drill, and can decide whether to go ahead. If the amount of data is large, the retrieval can take time and you may decide not to drill. When this option is not selected, Web Intelligence retrieves the additional data without prompting you. • Synchronize drill on report blocks: When this is selected, drilled values are shown in all the report blocks in the report. When it is not selected, drilled values are shown only in the report block selected for the drill.
• Hide drill toolbar: When this is selected, the drill toolbar that is normally displayed at the top of drilled reports is not shown. The drill toolbar displays the value on which you drilled. table template styles available to you.
About tables Vertical tables The vertical presentation style is the default style for presenting data. Vertical tables display header cells at the top of the table and the corresponding data in columns. By
default, the header cells display the names of the dimensions, details, and measures included in the table. The body cells display the corresponding values. Horizontal tables or financial tables A horizontal or financial table is similar to a vertical table except that the data runs horizontally rather than vertically. By default, the row headers display the names of the dimensions, details, and measures included in the table. The body cells display the corresponding values. This table format is useful for reports with several measures, such as financial reports and balance sheets. Cross tabs A cross tab looks similar to a spreadsheet and displays data in a matrix with row and column headings describing the content of each cell. Cross tabs are most commonly used to show the cross-section of three axes of information. Cross tabs display values for dimensions across the top axis and on the left axis. The body displays the values of a measure that correspond to the cross-section of the dimensions. Forms Forms are useful in a report if you want to display detailed information per customer, product, or partner. For example, a form is a useful way of displaying individual customer records with information such as the customer account, name, and address. Forms are also useful for formatting address labels for envelopes. Duplicating tables You can use the copy-and-paste method that you prefer to easily copy a table and paste it as another block in the report. This is useful in order to show the same data, but in another format, perhaps as a chart with formatting to highlight certain information.
Viewing tables in different display modes When you first create a new document by building and running a query, the data retrieved is generally displayed in a vertical table. By default, all documents display in the Quick Display mode. This display mode makes large documents with many rows and columns of data easier to handle because you can limit the number of rows and columns per page in your document Quick display mode displays 100 rows and 20 columns per page. You can increase these values, as required. You can insert one or more tables into a blank report or even add them to an existing report. You insert tables by dragging one of the following elements onto a blank area of the report: • The objects (from the Data tab) for which you want the table to display values - this is a fast way to build simple, vertical tables. • Table template (from the Templates tab) that defines the structure of the table, to which you then allocate objects - this is a fast way to build more complex tables with precision. In the Web Intelligence Rich Client window, you can make modifications to documents and preview those changes in View Structure, View Results and View Page modes. View Structure mode displays the structure of the report and definition of data filters, sorts and calculations.
Presenting data in free-standing cells Free-standing cells are single cells that stand alone in a report. You can use free-standing cells to display information that adds meaning to your report, such as: • Text comments: Type messages or questions, or add titles. • Images: Display logos, icons, or photographs. • Formulas or calculations: Add custom formulas or calculations. • Last refresh date: Display the date when the document results were refreshed with the most recent data from the database. • DrillFilter function: Display the names of the objects by which the data on a drilled report is filtered. • Page numbers: Display the page number of each report page. In the Formula and Text Cells template folder, the templates include: • Blank Cell • Drill Filters • Last Refresh Date • Document name • Query Summary • Prompt Summary • Report Filter Summary In the Page Number Cells template folder, the templates include: • Page Number • Page Number/Total Pages • Total Number of Pages Presenting data in charts Web Intelligence offers standard chart formats to graphically display your business information. You can select one of five basic chart types in Web Intelligence: bar, line, area, pie and radar. Bar charts
Bar charts display data in bar form, either vertically or horizontally. Bar charts are useful if you want to compare similar groups of data; for example one time period to another. There are five types of bar charts: Grouped, Bar and Line, Stacked, Percent, and 3D. Line charts Line charts connect specific data values with lines, either horizontally or vertically. Line charts are useful if you want to show trends or changes in data over time. There are five types of line charts: Mixed, Stacked, Percent, 3D Line, and 3D Surface. Area charts Area charts are line charts in which the area between the lines and axis are filled in. Area charts are useful if you want to emphasize the size of the total data in a report, as opposed to the changes in the data. You may not want to use an area chart if you have a sharp contrast between specific data points. In cases like that, it is recommended you use a line chart instead. Area charts connect specific data values with lines, either horizontally or vertically and then fill the gaps between. There are eight types of area charts: Vertical Absolute, Horizontal Absolute, Vertical Stacked, Horizontal Stacked, Vertical Percent, Horizontal Percent, 3D Area, and 3D Surface. Pie charts Pie charts display data as segments of a whole. Pie charts are useful if you want to show how each part of your report data contributes to the total. You can only include one measure object in a pie chart. If you have several measures in your report, you should choose another chart type. There are four types of pie charts: Pie, 3D Pie, Doughnut, and 3D Doughnut. Radar charts In radar charts, the X- and Y-axis connect at the chart's center. Radar charts are useful if you want to look at several different factors related to one item. For example, you could use a Radar chart to display revenue data for different services within a hotel. On one axis, you could display revenue for the rooms; on another you could display revenue for the restaurant, and so on. Scatter charts are similar to line graphs, except that the data points are plotted without a line connecting them. Scatter charts are useful if you want to make a comparison between specific data points. There are four types of radar charts: Radar Line, Stacked Area Radar, Polar, and Scatter. About breaks Breaks allow you to structure the data in a table into groups and make the data easier to view and interpret. You apply breaks on the data and values that you select. When you apply a break, Web Intelligence separates all the data for each unique value of the selected variable. It inserts a blank row or column after each value, which allows you to easily insert subtotals for the group of data.
Using breaks has two main advantages: • You can more efficiently organize how your data is represented. • You can display subtotals. When you insert a break on a dimension, the values for the dimension are automatically sorted in ascending order. If the values are numeric, the lowest value appears in the first row of the table, the highest in the last row. If the values are alphabetical characters, then the values are sorted in alphabetical order from top to bottom. About calculations Web Intelligence provides standard calculation functions to help you make quick calculations on the data in your reports. These calculations are available from the dropdown list of calculations on the Web Intelligence Rich Client window toolbar. You can calculate sums, averages and percentages. You can also calculate the total count, and the minimum and maximum values for a variable.
The Insert Calculation button displays a mathematical symbol for the currently-selected calculation. This symbol changes depending on the default or the last calculation selected for insertion. If you insert a percentage calculation, the results of the percentage are displayed in an additional column or row of the table. Using sorts You can apply sorts to the results displayed in tables, to organize the order in which results are displayed in a column or row. You can apply sorts to any dimensions, measures, or details displayed in a table. Sorting dimensions and details helps you organize results chronologically, while sorting measures helps you see highest or lowest results at a glance.
Note: The order of the non-measure objects in a table initially controls the way the data is sorted or grouped in the report. The Sort feature allows you to format data in ascending or descending order How is data sorted when you apply a break? When you insert a break on a dimension, Web Intelligence automatically sorts the values for the dimension in ascending order. For numeric values, the lowest value appears in the first row of the table, the highest in the last row. For alphabetical characters, the values appear in alphabetical order from top to bottom. You can change this sort order at any time. Controlling break headers and footers Frequently report designers use breaks to structure table data into smaller groups for the purposes of creating subtotals. When you apply a break to a table, the break footer appears as an additional row at the bottom of the table and serves to display the subtotal data clearly. However, each time you place a break on a table, you also create a header. When you know how to control the display of headers and footers you can use them to present you data clearly. For example, when you look at the following tables: • Break header: There is a break on both Year and Quarter, but there are only headers for each new quarter. • Break footer: There is a new footer for each new year, as well as each new quarter. When you place a sum on the Sales revenue column, the revenue figures are calculated on both the quarterly and yearly levels and then placed into the appropriate footer, as you can see in the second table.
You can edit the settings in the Properties tab to format the display of breaks and sorts. In the Properties tab, you can set options for the: • Display properties or how the results display on the break. • Page layout properties or how the breaks display on the report page.
Formatting breaks and cross tabs On the break for the Lines column, set the options so: • The break header shows. • The break footer does not show. • The Lines value centers across the other values in the table.
On the break for the Category column, set the options so: • The break header does not show. • The break footer does not show. • The Category value centers across the other values in the table. About report filters You have already used query filters in a previous lesson. Web Intelligence gives you two methods for restricting the data displayed in a document: • Query filters allow you to limit the amount of data that is retrieved from the data source and returned by the query to your Web Intelligence documents. You can only apply query filters when you are creating or editing the query in the Query panel. • Report filters, on the other hand, allow you to restrict the data shown in the report simply by hiding the data you are not interested in. The data is still contained in the document; it is just hidden from the report display. Tables or other blocks in your reports can sometimes be very large, and not very easy to read at a glance. To make the report easier to read, you apply a report filter on a specific object, so that it displays just the information that interests you.
Ranking data to see top or bottom values You may only want to show the extreme ranges of the data. Ranking allows you to determine the top or bottom three or more of a given dimension on the basis of a given measure. It acts in the same way as a combined filter/sort function to project only, for instance, the top five in descending order. Ranking can be applied at a: • Database level - by clicking the Add a database ranking button in the Query panel (this feature is database specific). • Report level - by clicking the Add/Remove ranking button in the Web Intelligence Rich Client window. Select the rank calculation mode in the Calculation mode list.
The available calculation modes include: • Count: Counts the records and displays the first/last n records in the count, according to the Ranking Selection. • Percentage: Counts the records and returns the ones corresponding to the top/bottom percent of the total records specified in the Ranking Selection. It is not a real percentage, for example, if you want 10% and there are a total of 100 rows, you would receive 10 rows. • Cumulative Sum: Adds up the values and displays the top/bottom n records required to reach the sum specified in the Ranking Selection. • Cumulative Percentage: Counts the total value of all the records and displays the top/bottom n records required to arrive at the percent of the total specified in the Ranking Selection. Tracking data changes in Web Intelligence To make informed and effective business decisions, you need to understand how the data that you use to monitor a situation or company performance changes over time. This understanding allows you to take appropriate and timely action to maintain and improve positive situations or to prevent and remedy negative situations. Web Intelligence allows you to track and highlight data changes so you can identify significant changes quickly, disregard irrelevant data, and focus your analysis on the root cause of the changes. For example, a report can allow you to monitor inventory levels and sales. When an item sells well, you can monitor inventory levels to ensure you replace the items as quickly as they sell. As a result, you can satisfy the high customer demand and sell high volumes of the successful item. The value of data tracking is apparent when you compare the following series of reports. Without data tracking, you make ineffective use of your time because you must first identify how the data has changed between the two refreshes shown here, before you can begin analysis of the reasons for the change Types of data change Web Intelligence allows you to track the following types of data change: • Added data • Removed data • Modified data • Increased data values • Decreased data values
You configure the display of these changes through the Web Intelligence interface. Enhancing Activating data tracking You activate data tracking via the Track button on the toolbar. When you click the Track button, the Activate Data Tracking dialog box appears and allows you to select a particular data set as a reference point for future changes. This data is known as the reference data. When you activate data tracking, two additional buttons become available to you: • Hide data tracking: Allows you to hide the highlighted data changes when data tracking is activated. This button is to the right of the Data tracking button. • Data tracking options: Opens the Data Tracking Options dialog box where you can define the formatting used to highlight data changes. This button is to the right of the Hide data tracking button. Note: Your ability to activate data tracking and to change the formatting for data changes when data tracking is activated depends on the rights that your administrator has assigned you. About alerters Alerters enable you to highlight results that meet or fail specific business targets. You can create a simple alerter to highlight particularly high or low results with a specific color or advanced alerters that display a text comment, such as "High Performer". For example, you can create an alerter to highlight margin results that exceed $1,100,000. The margin result that is greater than $1,100,000 is highlighted every time the report data is refreshed. An alerter contains five elements: • A name. • An object or cell contents. • An operator. • Operand value(s) or another object. • The conditional formatting. The object or cell contents, the operator and the operand make up the condition that determines whether the formatting will be applied to each cell where the alerter is applied. When you apply the new alerter to a table column, row or cell on a report, Web Intelligence
applies the condition to the cell values and displays any values that meet the condition in the alerter with the formatting specified. Additional rules to remember when creating alerters are: • You can apply alerters to tables, forms, section cells, and free-standing cells. • Alerters cannot be applied to charts. • You can include up to 30 alerters in a document. You can apply those alerters to a maximum of 20 table columns or rows, free-standing cells or section cells on the reports. A maximum of 10 alerters can be applied to a single-table column or row, free-standing cell or section cell. Web Intelligence applies a default format to display the alerter. You can make changes to this default format. You can insert multiple conditions within an alerter. You can also create an advanced alerter by inserting a formula. Creating complex alerters You can apply multiple conditions in a single alerter. You can only link the conditions with AND. For example, you can highlight Sales revenue when results reach over $300K and when those results occur in stores in any US State except California. To do this, you create an alerter with the following two conditions: The formatting generated by the alerter is the same for each condition. To create different conditions that each implement different formatting, you need to define multiple subalerters in the alerter. Note: The maximum number of alerters that can be created in a document is 30. About sections However, there is a more important difference. A break only groups within a block, whereas sectioning groups the entire report. Notice the section lines in the illustration below run across the width of the report. This has a number of advantages: • You can have multiple blocks projected from the same microcube within a single report, all sub-grouped to the sectioned level. • You can insert subtotal cells, repeated in each section, which are created by the simple pro cess of drag and drop. You can apply sorts to the results displayed in section cells, to organize the order in which sections are displayed in report tables. Sorting sections allows you to organize the section headers logically in a report. For example, when you create sections on a report for each year, you can apply a descending sort so that the sections are organized with the most recent year as the first section and the earliest year at the end of the report.
Copying data to other applications In Web Intelligence, you can easily copy data from a report into other applications, such as Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Power Point. You can also copy the data in a report as text. This makes it easier to present and share your analysis in different formats. Displaying the Report Manager Properties tab You can format your documents at various levels within the body of the report. Using the Report Manager, you can choose to modify the default property settings for all levels within the body of the document: the reports contained within the document, the charts and tables in the reports, and even the cells and chart elements in the tables and charts. You choose which level you want to format in a document by clicking the appropriate part of a report, and then changing the default settings in the Properties tab of the Report Manager.
Explaining formulas and variables You can add custom calculations to reports by writing a formula that Web Intelligence evaluates when you run the report. A formula can consist of data objects, functions, operators, and calculation contexts. You can create formulas directly in a report cell, but it is often better to save a formula as a variable. By saving a formula as a variable you can reuse it throughout the reports in a document without needing to retype it. Formulas A formula is a complex calculation that you create to display data that is not retrieved by existing objects in the universe. You can add formulas in two ways: • Type or drag and drop the formula components into the Formula toolbar. • Use the Formula Editor to build the formula. The first way is more suitable for experienced users. If you are not familiar with formulas, you should use the Formula Editor to build them. The Formula Editor is an interface that allows you to select the different components of your formula (operators, objects) and add them to it. You can also use the Formula Editor when you are viewing a Web Intelligence document in InfoView, in Interactive mode. Use a formula when you require a calculation for a table and do not need to use it again. Variables A variable is a formula that you save with a name and, based on the formula, a qualification is automatically assigned to it. It acts as an object in the document, and is displayed in the Data tab in the Report Manager just like any other data object. You can then use the variable as you would any object: to display the results of the calculation in multiple blocks and reports throughout the Web Intelligence document. The advantage to saving a formula as a variable is that you can reuse the formula without having to enter it each time. Variables are defined according to the formula you enter when you create them, but they behave like standard objects in the query and document. They are saved in the document and so can be used in any report within the document.
Variables are useful when you require a calculation and plan to use it more than once and in different blocks and report tabs within your document. Using formulas and variables There are many different reasons why you may choose to create variables and define formulas that calculate and display data in your report that you cannot retrieve using the objects in the universe. In this section, you learn three methods for creating new variables and their associated formulas: • Creating a variable that captures the user's response to a prompt when he or she refreshes the report, and then displaying that value in a cell or other element in the report. • Creating a variable that calculates data, and then projecting the calculation in a new column. • Using document functions to create a variable that displays information about your document, such as the author and document name in a report. Note: When you create a formula, you always begin with the equal (=) sign and report objects always appear inside square brackets. Creating a variable as a response to a prompt If you create a report that prompts users to select the values on which they want to filter the report data, you can also create a formula that allows you to use the user selected prompt values in the title of the report. Synchronizing data from multiple data sources You can include one or more queries in a single Web Intelligence document. When you include multiple queries, those queries can be based on a single universe or on multiple universes available to you in InfoView. You can also include data in your document that you retrieve from data files, such as Excel spreadsheets, text files and CSV files. These data sources are known as local data providers. For example, in your organization you may use one universe to access data on product line sales. You also use another universe to access customer data. Typically one universe is built for each functional area. Therefore, if you were working with both sales data and customer demographics, chances are good that the data would come from two separate universes. You want to present product line sales results and information on customer age groups in the same report. To do this, you create a single document that includes data retrieved by two queries; each query is built using a different universe. You can then include and format the results from both queries in the same report. • The system administrator assigns rights for access to specific universes.
Working with multiple data providers
When you run a query against a single data source, the results of the query are stored in the document's microcube, and the query is identified as a data provider. You can also retrieve data using local data files, such as such as Excel spreadsheets, text files and CSV files. All of these data sources, queries as well as local data files, are known as "data providers" in Web Intelligence. Each data provider only holds data from a single data source. This is very useful when you want to include data from several sources in a single document (=- irrespective of the format of the original source. It also means you can present related information in a way that helps you compare or analyze data more meaningfully. Once the basic report is built with blocks of related data, you can compare and contrast the information in a single table, add calculations across data sources, create new variables and develop the analysis further. The following graphic is an illustration of this concept:
Blocks 1 and 2 are different views of the data provider created by a single query using the Universe A. • Block 3 displays a view of the data provider created by a second query using the Universe A. A document that displays Blocks 1, 2, and 3 is an example of combining data from multiple queries using a single universe. • Block 4 displays a view of the data provider created by a query using Universe B. A document that displays block 4 with blocks 1, 2, and 3, views of data from Universe A, is an example of combining data from multiple queries on multiple universes. What is data synchronization? This lesson describes how to synchronize multiple data providers in a Web Intelligence report by merging them on common dimensions. After merging common dimensions you can place dimensions from different data providers in the same block.
Merged dimensions and data synchronization enormously increase the power and flexibility of Web Intelligence by allowing you to synthesize data from different sources in the same report, rather than simply including the data. Synchronization is the term used to describe the merging of data from multiple data sources into a single block in a report. The next graphic illustrates how data from more than one source is combined in synchronized blocks in the same document.
Block 1 is created by combining data from two different data providers which contain the results of queries using the Universe A. • Block 2 is created by combining data from data providers which contain the results of queries using both Universe A and Universe B. Projecting data from a single query in different blocks You can use multiple blocks of data to project different views of data from a single query. For example, in this image, Block 1 and Block 2 show different sets of data retrieved from the same query, and the same universe.
Projecting data from multiple queries using a single universe If the document contains a set of data returned by an existing query, you have already seen how to edit the query to include more objects, and expand the data contained in the data provider. You can also choose to add a second query to the document, select different objects from the same universe, and expand the document's data by using two separate data providers.
About automatically merged dimensions When you use the same object in two different queries, Web Intelligence automatically merges the two instances of the same object and creates a combined object, identified by the double-cubed dimension icon
The objects are shown as combined into a single object because the Store name objects come from the same universe and, as a result, have the same object and universe ID. Web Intelligence automatically merges dimensions only when the same object is used in more than one query in a document. Ideally, a well-designed universe does not have two different objects of the same name, or of different data types, but if this does occur and you use them in more than one query in a document, Web Intelligence will automatically merge them. If you do not want Web Intelligence to automatically merge multiple instances of the same object in a single document, you can clear the Auto-merge dimensions option at the document level, using the Document Properties pane. In the Document Properties pane, the Auto-merge dimensions option tells Web Intelligence whether it should automatically merge a dimension when the same object is used in more than one query in a single document. When you clear this option, your change takes effect the next time you create a document with two queries that reference the same object. Projecting data from queries using multiple universes You have used data from a single universe to produce multiple blocks in reports. These blocks are views of data providers with data retrieved using a single universe. You can also build a query against a different universe and include the data retrieved as a new data provider in the document.
Synchronizing data with merged dimensions In the previous exercise, you have seen how to project data from multiple queries in a document, from both single and multiple universes. So far, you have not tried to merge data from different data sources into a single block (table or chart). To do this, you need to synchronize the data by merging dimensions. Because the data comes from two different
data providers, if you do not synchronize the dimensions with similar data, Web Intelligence cannot know in what way the data is related and your report will not show relevant results.
What happens when dimensions are not synchronized In the previous exercise, you retrieved data concerning stores, but you used two dimension objects that had different names, even though they retrieved similar data: • The Store name object in the "Revenue query" and the "Margin query", from the eFashion universe. • The Store object in the "Employee query", from the eStaff universe. Because the dimension objects come from different universes, Web Intelligence cannot automatically merge the dimensions. If you try to combine data from the two objects in a single block, Web Intelligence will not automatically be able to interpret the relationship between them. Synchronizing queries by manually merging dimensions You can define the relationship between objects from different universes by manually merging the dimensions to synchronize the data they retrieve. Merging dimensions manually allows you to identify the objects that retrieve common data in both queries. After you merge the dimension, you can compare information between the queries more accurately. Some rules about synchronizing with merged dimensions Merging dimensions is the process of creating a link between two queries based on an object with common values so that in effect the objects become one.
There are a number of rules to remember when merging dimensions from multiple queries: • You can only link on dimension objects, for example, Store name and Store. • The dimension objects do not have to have the same names. • The dimension objects must have a common data format. For example, if one object is
character-based and the other numeric you cannot link the objects. • Although the actual values do not have to be the same, all data held in a data provider is case-sensitive, and therefore any common values must be in the same case. • The format of the values must be the same. For example, FY04 and 2004 would be seen as two separate values. Extra spaces in some values can also mean that the objects cannot be merged. • Any number of queries can be linked by common dimension objects. • Any number of dimension objects can be merged between two queries. • A measure object can be synchronized successfully only to the lowest level of detail that is common between the two different data sources. For example, a query with Year can be linked with another query with Year and Month. However, the synchronized block is only able to display data at the Year level. Using a personal data provider The Web Intelligence Rich Client application allows you to enrich corporate data with personal data that you upload to a document. Using personal data The Web Intelligence Rich Client application allows you to upload personal data to a document along with corporate data. Acceptable personal data formats are: • Excel • Text • CSV Note: When a query is based on a personal data file and you refresh the query, Web Intelligence Rich Client searches for the personal data file in specific files. When Web Intelligence Rich Client does not find the data file in one of the following locations, an error message displays: • The folder where the local data file was stored when the data provider was created. • The same folder as the Web Intelligence document. • The default user document folder (C:\Documents and Settings\%currentUser%\My Documents\My Business Objects Documents\userDocs). Linking personal data to universe data
Generally, personal data allows you to supplement the data from the universe with additional, pertinent information. In some cases, the data from the universe and a local data provider is most meaningful when you can present it in a single table or data block. Just as when you combine data from separate universes, you need to synchronize the data from a universe and local data provider. You can use the Merge Dimensions dialog box to select common dimensions from queries on different data sources and merge them into a single dimension. Remember that the dimensions must be the same data type and retrieve semanticallyrelated data in order for them to qualify as merged dimensions. Analyzing the data cube Drill mode is a feature that allows you to view data from different levels of detail and zoom in on different trends. If a Web Intelligence document has been enabled for drill analysis, users viewing the document either in InfoView or in the Web Intelligence Rich Client can drill down to get more details on one of the data objects used in a table or chart. After completing this unit, you will be able to: • Describe how data retrieved by a query is stored in the document data cube • Explain scope of analysis About the Web Intelligence data cube The data that is returned by a query is stored in the document’s data provider. It is convenient to visualize the returned data as being organized as a cube. In your document, the data is displayed as a table. The table is a flat two-dimensional view of the data cube.
Each of the columns in a table represents an axis in the cube. You can edit the document by swapping and manipulating the data within the cube on any axis. When you swap or change data between different axes, the new result is again projected as a flat table in the resulting document.
The data stored in the cube allows you to create a report that corresponds to your business needs without having to send another query to the database. If you want to add information to the document that is not in the data provider, then you must add the object to the query and run the query again to get the new information. What is scope of analysis? The scope of analysis for a query is extra data that you can retrieve from the database to give more details about the data returned by each of the objects in the query. This extra data does not appear in the initial document results, but it remains available in the data provider, so that at any time, you can pull this data into the report to allow you to access more detail.
In a BusinessObjects universe, the scope of analysis corresponds to the hierarchical levels below the object selected for a query. For example, a scope of analysis of one level down for the object Year, would include the Quarter object, which appears immediately under Year.
You can set the scope of analysis level when you build a query. It allows objects lower down the hierarchy to be included in the query, without them actually appearing in the Result Objects pane. The hierarchies built in a universe allow you to choose your scope of analysis, and correspondingly the level of drill available.
You can also create a custom scope of analysis by selecting specific dimensions in the Scope of Analysis pane. Drilling down in the data in a hierarchy You must activate drill mode to be able to drill down the data in the hierarchy of a drillable report. To edit the scope of analysis When you are drilling on a hierarchy, you may discover that you need to drill to a lower level than you had previously allowed for when setting the scope of analysis. Edit the scope of analysis by returning to the Query panel and changing the level of detail that you defined in the Scope of Analysis pane. Taking a snapshot of the drill report You can save a version of your drilled results by taking a snapshot of the report. This is useful if you want to isolate certain drilled results, but continue working in drill mode. When you take a snapshot, Web Intelligence inserts a new report after your last report in the document. You can continue working in your current report, but can switch to the snapshot by clicking the new report tab. The snapshot button appears next to the Drill button in the Reporting toolbar. It is only available when you are viewing a report in Drill mode. When you take a snapshot, Web Intelligence inserts a new report after your last report in the document. The new report is a sectioned, filtered report which you can modify. You can work on the new report or the drill report by clicking the relevant report tab. Setting Web Intelligence drill options Before you begin a drill session, you specify how reports will change each time you drill by setting your drill options in the Web Intelligence Rich Client application, in InfoView, or at the document level. This unit tells you: • About the drill options available to you • How to select the drill options appropriate for your analysis When you modify your drill options, the modifications are implemented the next time you start drill mode. Setting general drill options in Web Intelligence Rich Client The Web Intelligence Rich Client Options dialog box provides a number of settings that allow you to determine how drill mode is activated when you view Web Intelligence documents. These settings apply when the document is opened in Web Intelligence Rich Client, in the Java Report Panel, or if you simply view the document in the InfoView main window.
Using query drill When you create, edit or view a Web Intelligence document, you can set Web Intelligence to drill in “query drill� mode, which behaves differently from the standard drill mode described so far in this lesson. When you activate query drill, Web Intelligence drills by modifying the underlying query (adding and removing dimensions and query filters) in addition to applying drill filters. When can you use query drill? You use query drill when your report contains aggregate measures calculated at the database level. It is designed in particular to provide a drill mode adapted to databases which contain aggregate functions that Web Intelligence either does not support, or cannot calculate accurately at the report level during a drill session. The kinds of aggregate functions that are candidates for drilling in query drill mode are: percentages, distinct counts, ranks, standard deviations and variances, running aggregates, lead and lag functions. Because query drill modifies the query at each drill
operation, it ensures that these aggregates are recalculated by the server each time you drill. Query drill is also useful for reducing the amount of data that Web Intelligence must store locally during a drill session. Because query drill reduces the scope of analysis when you drill up, Web Intelligence is able to purge unnecessary data. Understanding the impact of query drill on performance In standard drill mode, you can drill into the detail level contained in the Scope of Analysis. Generally, when you use the standard drill mode, you do not generate and run a new query because the data is present in the data provider. When you drill, Web Intelligence aggregates and displays information at the required detail level. When you use standard drill mode, your report may store more data than the end user wants to see. Often, a large report using the standard drill mode takes time to load, but requires only one refresh. Note: When you modify the Scope of Analysis, you generate and run a new query to retrieve new data. However, many databases contain aggregate functions that Web Intelligence does not support or cannot calculate correctly when you use the standard drill mode. For such a database, you can use query drill mode to use the aggregates from the database. To do this, you modify the query and allow the server to process the aggregates at each drill level. In query drill mode, the server processes all aggregate calculations at each level when drilling down. Consequently, reports load faster than the report with standard drill mode and the aggregates may calculate more quickly. On the other hand, the report requires multiple query refreshes, depending on the detail level required. Using Web Intelligence Rich Client, or from within InfoView, you can share your documents with colleagues - both BusinessObjects users and non-users. You can also use InfoView to schedule a document so that it is refreshed automatically at specified times. Exporting documents to the CMS So far you have been working in the Web Intelligence Rich Client, a standalone application that can be operated either connected to or disconnected from the BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Management Server (CMS). All the documents that you have saved have been stored on your local computer, and are therefore accessible only to you. In this lesson, you are going to work with Web Intelligence files in InfoView, a portal that you access via your internet browser. One of the advantages of InfoView is that it allows Web Intelligence documents to be published, accessed, and shared by multiple users. To make a Web Intelligence document that you created with the Web Intelligence Rich Client available via InfoView, you must first export the document to the CMS. Exporting a Web Intelligence document
Documents are exported to the CMS in their current state, including all modifications made since they were created or opened. This means that in addition to locally-saved documents, you can export a document to the CMS without saving it locally. A newly created document that is exported before being saved will be given the name "Document X", where X is the document creation order in the session. Folders and Categories When you export a document to the CMS, you need to select the folder in which you want to save the document, and can optionally select a category with which you want to associate the document. Folders: • Are used as containers for documents to store and organize information within the system. • Can hold many documents. A document can only belong to one folder. However, you can create shortcuts to documents and place the shortcuts in other folders. • Can be Public (Public Folders) or Personal (My Favorites). Files stored to Public Folders are available to other InfoView users. Files stored to folders within My Favorites are only accessible to you. Categories: • Are used to tag documents in a meaningful way to classify them for organizational purposes. • Allow users to view documents across the system because a category is not constrained by the document's storage location. • Can be Corporate (Corporate Categories) or Personal (Personal Categories). Corporate categories are accessible to other users, but Personal categories are accessible only to you, for instance, for organizing documents associated with a particular project. The folders and categories that you see in the Export Document dialog box are the same as those you will encounter in the Navigation Panel in InfoView. Logging onto InfoView Each time you log onto InfoView, the BusinessObjects Enterprise server checks your user account name and details to see that you are an authorized user. To log on, you first need to view the InfoView Log On page. InfoView is the part of Web Intelligence that acts as a portal to all the information available to you. Managing documents in InfoView
InfoView is the part of BusinessObjects that acts as a portal to all the information available to you. With InfoView, you can access three different document storage areas: • Public Documents - a catalog of all the documents that you are authorized to access in the BusinessObjects Central Management Server. These documents have been published by other BusinessObjects users. You can access these documents from your InfoView Public Folders or Corporate Categories. • My Favorites - a catalog of all the documents that you have chosen to save for your own personal use. These documents are stored in space on the BusinessObjects server that has been reserved for your own use. • Inbox - a catalog of documents that other InfoView users have sent to you. • Please note that, depending on the constraints of your rights within the learning environment, you and learners may not have access to all folders and categories that appear in the screen captures in this unit. Folders and categories in InfoView InfoView provides you with two main ways to navigate through documents and organize information: folders and categories. Each of these navigation methods is hierarchical, meaning InfoView displays them in a tree in the Navigation Panel . Creating folders Folders are a way of organizing your documents. In the InfoView Navigation Panel, you can create new folders to organize your documents. Depending on the access rights granted you by the BusinessObjects administrator, you may also be authorized to create new folders in Public Folders. Creating categories Categories allow you to reference documents. You can assign related documents to a specific category, regardless of where the documents are actually stored. Categories make it easier to sort and find documents in document lists. Managing documents in folders and categories Using InfoView, you can save documents to folders and categories. You can also use InfoView to: • Search for specific documents. • Create a shortcut to a document. • Filter documents in a list. Searching for documents
The Search feature in InfoView enables you to search for documents within categories or folders by the document title, keywords, or all fields. There is also an Advanced Search feature that allows you to be more specific in your search criteria. Filtering documents in a list By default, all documents that you are authorized to view are displayed in your folder and category lists. If you want to temporarily limit the type of documents displayed to improve search capabilities, you can add a filter. Applying a filter to your document lists allows you to view only documents of a certain type. The various document types that you can filter include documents from Web Intelligence and other BusinessObjects end-user querying tools, Microsoft Excel, Power Point, program objects, object packages, and text files. Viewing a Web Intelligence document in InfoView In InfoView, you can view documents that were created with Web Intelligence and other BusinessObjects end-user querying tools if the administrator has authorized you to view those formats, as well as documents created with other non-BusinessObjects applications. Viewing Web Intelligence documents InfoView allows you to open Web Intelligence documents for easy access. Within InfoView, you can edit Web Intelligence documents if you are authorized to use one of the Web Intelligence report panels (the Interactive HTML querying and/or reporting panels, or the Java Report Panel). You can modify the document's underlying query if you are authorized to access the universe that was used to create the document. Refreshing a Web Intelligence document When you refresh a Web Intelligence document it retrieves the most recent data from the database and returns the updated values to the report(s). You can update the data in a document while keeping the same presentation and formatting. Note: You can modify the data displayed in a document when you are authorized to create and edit documents using one of the Web Intelligence report panels, and when you have a connection to the data source. Refreshing the document does not change the query definition used to create the document; it merely retrieves the most recent data from the database that corresponds to the underlying query. You can refresh documents in the following ways: • Manually, whenever you choose. • Every time you or another user open a document.
To refresh a document every time it is opened When you save a document, in the Save As dialog box, you can select theRefresh on open option to automatically refresh the data every time a user opens it. When you do not select the option, the users benefit from always seeing the data that was retrieved when the document was created or last refreshed, and which was stored in the document when it was saved. When you select the option, depending on how much data the underlying query retrieves, users may notice that the report takes longer to display than they expect. Consequently, as a best practice, only use this option when you have a specific reason for automating the refresh. Sharing Web Intelligence documents If you are sharing documents with InfoView users, you can send your documents directly to their InfoView Inbox folder, or you can choose to save them as public documents in the corporate repository, if your BusinessObjects system administrator has authorized you to do so. BusinessObjects stores sent and public documents allowing others to retrieve them. If your colleagues are not InfoView users, you can save your reports in Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF so that they can easily view and print them using Excel or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Sharing documents with InfoView users To share documents with other InfoView users, you can either send a document to a user's Inbox, or you can save it as a public document, if you are authorized to do so. Sending a document to users Sending documents is the ideal method for communicating information to individual users and groups of users. The documents are sent through the corporate repository and users can then retrieve the document from their InfoView Inbox. Note: You can only send documents to users that have been set up in the system by the administrator. Saving a public document When you save a document to a public folder or category, you are making it available to a wide audience of users. When given the appropriate access rights, your colleagues can then refresh or modify the document and save it again, making it easy to collaborate with one another. Public documents remain in the repository until removed by the BusinessObjects system administrator. This method is ideal for communicating information across an organization. Note: You can only save documents to public folders if you have been authorized to do so by the system administrator.
Sharing beyond Web Intelligence To share with colleagues who are not users of Web Intelligence or other BusinessObjects querying tools, you can save your reports in Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel or CSV format. That way, you and your colleagues can easily view and print them using Adobe Acrobat Reader or Excel. When you save a document in PDF format, the page layout and formatting of the Web Intelligence document is retained in the PDF file. Scheduling documents in InfoView Scheduling a document lets you run it automatically at specified times. When a scheduled document runs successfully, an instance is created. An instance is a version of the object containing the data available at the time it was run. Therefore, instances created later contain more recent data. You can see a list of instances by looking at a document's history, and you can click the link to any historical instance. If you have the rights to view objects on demand, you can view and refresh any Web Intelligence document to retrieve the latest data from the database. By scheduling and viewing instances, you can ensure you have the latest information available for viewing, printing, and distributing. For example, you can schedule a report object (document) to run every night so it's available for you first thing in the morning. Note: Before scheduling objects, check your time zone setting on the Preferences page in InfoView. The default time zone is local to the web server that is running BusinessObjects Enterprise. About document preferences in InfoView Web Intelligence documents and documents from other BusinessObjects end-user querying tools all have different view options that can be set as default. The default determines the view that is applied when a document is first opened. The view format can always be changed after the document has been opened. In general, the different views are aimed at satisfying one of two things: • Quality in Viewing - These options are aimed at users that primarily view the reports over the web. These formats are not ideal for printing. Web Intelligence provides HTML and Interactive modes that are intended for users that usually look at reports online. • Quality in Printing - These options are aimed at users that primarily print their reports. These reports print exactly as they appear on the screen and provide much better print quality than HTML. Web Intelligence provides PDF for the users that primarily print their documents. About Web Intelligence viewing settings
InfoView provides a number of formats for viewing Web Intelligence documents. You can define one viewing format as the default option for your user account by setting the appropriate option in the InfoView Preferences page. You can choose to view Web Intelligence documents in the following formats: • HTML - useful if you want to navigate reports to view results and refresh the report data to see the latest figures. Values displayed in report tables and charts are static. • Interactive - useful if you want to filter, sort, add simple calculations or drill on the values displayed in the reports. This feature will be presented in detail later in this course. Note: The availability to use this feature depends on how InfoView was installed and what user rights you have. Ask your administrator if you have the rights to this feature. • Portable Document Format (PDF) - useful if you want to print a document or save the document to share with someone who does not have access to InfoView or Web Intelligence. You can experiment with all of the formats described by changing the default view options in InfoView. The settings that are most appropriate for you depend on your organization's requirements as well as your own preferences. The Product Locale setting determines the locale that InfoView uses by default. This affects the way that InfoView displays data, for example, the formatting of numbers and the default sort order. By default, the Product Locale is set to use your browser locale. The Preferred Viewing Locale is the locale that you choose to display data. The Preferred Viewing Locale overrides the product locale if it is different from the product locale and your settings give the preferred viewing locale priority. By default, the Preferred Viewing Locale is set to use your browser locale. Describing the Web Intelligence report panels Web Intelligence offers four different interfaces that report designers can use to create queries and reports. Three of these interfaces are accessible as web applications from within the BusinessObjects Enterprise portal, InfoView. The fourth is a stand-alone application available on your desktop. All four of these query and report panels are described in this unit, as well as how to choose which panel you wish to work with, if your BusinessObjects system administrator has not already defined this for all your organization's users. About the Web Intelligence report panels Web Intelligence offers four different interfaces that report designers can use to create queries and reports: • Java Report Panel, available within InfoView, which offers extended querying, reporting,
and formatting functionality. • Web Intelligence Rich Client , a Windows-based, standalone application, which provides the same extended functionality available in the Java Report Panel. It also allows you to work offline, to create and save Web Intelligence documents locally, and to use personal data files to retrieve data for your reports. • Interactive HTML, available within InfoView, that provides most of the querying and reporting functionality available in the other two panels. If you choose to use this panel, you can use all the reporting and formatting features available in Interactive View mode. • Web Accessibility HTML, also available within InfoView, that is designed to simplify the process of creating and deploying a customized version of Web Intelligence in the enterprise. Note: You used Web Intelligence Rich Client for the activities presented in this course. Java Report Panel The Java Report Panel is designed for users who need flexibility with building complex queries, designing report layout, and defining formulas and variables. It has a drag-anddrop interface that allows you to create sophisticated documents containing multiple reports, tables and charts. You can create complex filters, custom formulas, and highly formatted documents with personalized page layouts. The Java Report Panel requires Java installation. When you first use the Java Report Panel in InfoView, the Java applet downloads. When you require advanced query and formula features and work in InfoView, it is recommended that you use the Java Report Panel. Web Intelligence Rich Client Web Intelligence Rich Client is a locally installed Microsoft Windows application that lets you work with Web Intelligence documents (.WID) that are stored locally or in a CMS. When working without a CMS connection, you can work on your local machine with either CMS-secured or unsecured documents. Web Intelligence Rich Client is based on the Web Intelligence Java Report Panel and provides equivalent document creation, editing, formatting, printing and saving capabilities. There are a number of reasons for using the Web Intelligence Rich Client application to work with Web Intelligence documents: • You want to work with Web Intelligence documents but you are unable to connect to a CMS (while traveling, for example). • You want to improve calculation performance: Web Intelligence Rich Client performs
calculations locally, rather than on the server, and local calculations can perform better than server calculations. • You want to work with Web Intelligence documents without installing a CMS or application server. Interactive HTML Designed for users requiring a pure HTML environment to build queries, Web Intelligence Interactive HTML offers the ability to define the data content of documents on multiple data sources. You can use Interactive HTML to create new documents from scratch or edit the queries in documents created using any of the other Web Intelligence tools. Once you have run the queries to generate a standard report, you can leverage Web Intelligence Interactive on-report analysis features to format multiple reports, add formulas, and create variables. There is no need to download additional software to your workstation to use this panel. Note: Web Intelligence Interactive HTML and on-report analysis in Interactive view format are only available if your administrator has deployed Web Intelligence in JSP mode. Web Accessibility HTML The Web Accessibility HTML panel is similar to the Interactive HTML panel in that no software is downloaded to your workstation. It is a simplified interface, which is essentially made available for developers who want to deploy a customized version of Web Intelligence in their company. Note: The Web Intelligence Web Accessibility HTML panel is only available if your administrator has deployed Web Intelligence in JSP mode.
You can use the following view formats to select how you want to view and interact with existing Web Intelligence documents, or documents that you have just created using a query editor: