Report building tips and tricks mis v8.0

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Report Building Tips and Tricks MIS v8.0

Management Information System User Guide

Mid and Back Office Solutions

YOUR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO THESE TERMS Use of this documentation You are authorized to view, copy, or print the documentation for your personal use only. None of the Amadeus data included in the documentation may be sold, transferred, redistributed, retransmitted, published or commercially exploited in any way without the express advance written permission of Amadeus. This documentation is provided on an “AS IS” basis and Amadeus does not warrant any maintenance or support in using this documentation. Data ownership This documentation is protected by Intellectual Property rights and is the exclusive property of Amadeus. No licence over these Intellectual Property rights is herein being granted. You acknowledge that the documentation is the valuable intellectual property of Amadeus and that if you use, modify or distribute the documentation for unauthorized purposes, you will be liable to Amadeus for any damages it may suffer. The examples in this document are for illustrative purposes only. The naming of particular airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, or other companies in these examples does not constitute an endorsement, express or implied, of Amadeus by these companies or of these companies by Amadeus. Product offers, prices, terms and other information provided herein are subject to change without notice. You should determine the appropriateness of any product for your intended purpose and needs. Amadeus makes no warranty of any kind including but not limited to the implied warranty of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. © 2011 Amadeus s.a.s. All Rights Reserved. Edition 3.3 For MIS v8.0 Job Number xxxx FE N/A Published by: Amadeus Global Learning Services (Distribution and IT) e-mail: [email protected] November 2011

© 2011 Amadeus s.a.s. - All rights reserved i

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Before You Start ...................................................................................... 1

Chapter 2 Tip: Customer Levels .............................................................................. 3

Chapter 3 Tip: Sales Amounts on Segment Level ................................................. 5

Chapter 4 Tip: Adding Fees to Total Sales Amount............................................. 11

Chapter 5 Tip: Displaying Your Report Data in Different Languages ................ 19

Chapter 6 Tip: Using Dynamic Date Conditions .................................................. 23

What Are Dynamic Date Objects?....................................................... 23 Example Scenario ............................................................................... 24

Chapter 7 Tip: Using Predefined Conditions........................................................ 29

Chapter 8 Tip: Step by Step Creation of a Report with a Customer Hierarchy . 33

How to Build the Data Provider ........................................................... 33 How to Build Dummy/Indicator Objects ............................................... 34 Creating Sections and Tables ............................................................. 35

How to Create the Report Sections.............................................................35 How to Create the Report Tables................................................................39

Report Building Tips and Tricks MIS v8.0 Management Information System User

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Chapter 9 Tip: Adding Your Logo To a Report..................................................... 47

Chapter 10 Tip: Creating a Report on Statement Payments (Payments at Dossier Level) ...................................................................................................... 49

Chapter 11 Tip: Handling Locale-Specific Formatting of 'Undefined' Measures 51

Chapter 12 Tip: Web Intelligence versus Desktop Intelligence ............................ 55

What Are the Major Benefits of Web Intelligence Rich Client?............ 55 Enhanced Features in the User Inferface of Web Intelligence Rich Client Compared to Desktop Intelligence ............................................ 56 Layout Differences Between Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence Reports ................................................................................................ 62

Index ....................................................................................................... 65

© 2011 Amadeus s.a.s. - All rights reserved 1

Chapter 1

Before You Start

About This Guide

Amadeus Agency Manager information is structured according to a specific logic that suits the Travel Agency business. You must take this information structure into account when you are setting up your MIS reports. This Tips and Tricks user guide is intended to assist you with regularly recurring issues, which need to be resolved in a very specific manner.

Audience

This user guide is intended for MIS users that are authorized to create reports. We assume that you are already familiar with the basic concepts and interaction principles of BO's Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence tools. Therefore, the contents of this guide are limited to an explanation of the procedures to deal with specific challenges in MIS.

What's New in This Guide

This edition includes the following changes:

Type of Change Area/Topic

New workaround (v7.2) • Tip: Handling Locale-Specific Formatting of 'Undefined' Measures on page 51.

New tip (v7.2) • Tip: Web Intelligence versus Desktop Intelligence on page 55.


Chapter 2

Tip: Customer Levels

With tip 1, we would like to bring to your attention that Amadeus Agency Manager can have different customers linked to the various levels of a Dossier. An Agency Manager Dossier consists of a number of levels of detail, each of which can be linked to a different customer:

• Dossier level

• Product line level

• Invoice level

• Payment level

The customer linked to the Dossier header may be different to the one linked to product line level, for instance.

When you are working on the MIS environment in Business Objects, you may select customer information on different levels as well. When you are creating reports about your customer base, you need to pay attention which customer level you select.

Figure: MIS: different customers on different levels

This is a situation that occurs mainly for business customers, where the traveller may not be the same person as the person/department that gets invoiced, and the person/department that pays the bill. Particular setup guidelines in Agency Manager may also lead to these situations.

Note: In most cases, we recommend selecting the customer on product line level for your reports.


Chapter 3

Tip: Sales Amounts on Segment Level

When you generate a report on your Dossiers containing sales amount information as well as segment level information, the total sales amounts will appear on segment level. This is not a correct representation of information, however, as the sales amount information always comes from product line level. The amounts have not been split up into sales amounts per segment.

Figure: Report with sales amounts on segment level

To obtain a correct representation, you must set up two data providers in Business Objects, and create the reports using the following steps:

1. Select the Dossier number, product line number and the Total sales amount for your first query.


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Figure: Defining data provider 1

2. Run the query. Business Objects displays the information in a table on the Report 1 tab.

Figure: Result data provider 1

3. Select the New Data provider item from the Data menu. The New Data Wizard opens.

Chapter 3 Tip: Sales Amounts on Segment Level


Figure: New Data Wizard

4. Select the Build a new query on the universe currently in use radio button, and click Finish. The Query panel opens again.

5. Select the required segment information from the Classes and Objects explorer, in addition to the product line number, which is the common denominator between the two data providers.

Figure: Defining data provider 2

6. Run the query. The report does not change, but Business Objects displays the objects included in the second query in the Data explorer on the left.


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Figure: Data provider 2 result

7. Drag the Seg Nr item from the explorer into the table that was created after the first query.

Figure: Dragging the Segment number object into the product line table

8. Drag in the other segment information as well.

9. Drag and drop the Product Dossier Numbers and Product line numbers to a position above the table.

Chapter 3 Tip: Sales Amounts on Segment Level


Figure: Separating the product information from the segments

10. Drag and drop the total sales amounts to a position alongside the product line number.

Figure: Dropping the sales amounts next to the product line number

As a result, the sales amount is displayed on the correct level, while you are able to maintain the information on segment level as well. If you wish, you can copy and paste the amount field next to the Dossier number to obtain a total Sales amount for the Dossier.


Chapter 4

Tip: Adding Fees to Total Sales Amount

When you build reports containing sales amounts for Dossier products, the amounts for the fee products will be displayed separately in the product overview.

Figure: Products and fees displayed in a report

If you are building such a report for your customer, you may not want these fee products and amounts to be visible, but you would like the fee amount added to the sales amount of the product related to that fee. Such a report requires a special information setup. You need to create two data providers:

• Data provider 1 must contain product and sales amount information for the non-fee products. This means that a condition must be applied: the fee line number must equal zero.

• Data provider 2 must contain the sales information for the fee products. This means that a condition must be applied: the fee line number must be different from zero.

Next, the fee products from data provider 2 must be linked to the related products coming from data provider 1. Finally, a new sales amount variable must be created that adds the fee amounts to the sales amounts of the related products.

In the following procedure, a particular Dossier containing one fee product is used as an example.

To create a report in which the fee amount is added to the overall product sales amount:

1. Define a query containing the product information, the sales amount variable, and a condition stating that the fee line must have a value equal to zero.


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Figure: Defining data provider 1 (Fee amount tip)

2. Click the Run button to create data provider 1. The displayed result contains product and sales information for the non-fee products within the Dossier.

Figure: Data provider 1

3. Select the New Data provider item from the Data menu to create Data provider 2.

Chapter 4 Tip: Adding Fees to Total Sales Amount


4. Define a query containing just the Dossier number, the fee line number and the sales amount variable. Include a condition stating that the fee line number must differ from zero.

Figure: Data provider 2 (fee amount tip)

5. Click Run to create the second data provider. The report does not change, but the Object explorer displays the data provider resulting from the second query.

6. Link the fee line number of data provider 2 to the product line number of data provider 1:

- Select the View Data item from the Data menu. The Data Manager opens.

Figure: Unlinking the fee lines

- Select the Fee line number, and unlink it from the Fee line number of query 1 by clicking the Unlink button on the Definition tab.


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- Link the Fee line number to the Product Dossier Number by clicking the Link To button, and selecting the Prod Dos Nr entity on the Define link Between dimensions box.

Figure: Linking the fee line number

Figure: Linking the fee line number to the product line number

- Click the OK buttons to close the Define link between dimensions box and Data Manager screen.

7. Right-click one of the items in the object explorer to create a new sales amount variable.



Figure: Creating a new variable

8. In the Variable Editor, provide a name for the sales amount variable on the Definition tab.

Figure: Defining the name of the new variable

9. On the Formula tab, provide a formula for adding up the sales amounts coming from the two data providers


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Figure: Defining the sum of two sales amounts

10. Click the OK button to return to the main Business Objects screen. The new variable has been added to the object explorer, below the Common folder.

11. Drag the new sales amount variable into the existing table. The new column displays the sum of the product sales amount and the amount of related fees without displaying a fee line.

Figure: New sales amount variable added to the report

12. Remove the Fee Line Nr and Total sales columns to obtain your final result.



Figure: Report displaying the sales amount totals


Chapter 5

Tip: Displaying Your Report Data in Different Languages

Showing your report entries in another language beside the local language is very easy in Amadeus MIS. The local language is the one that has been selected in Agency Manager. With one query you can extract both the required information and its translations.

Within the MIS Universe, the objects containing the translations are directly embedded into the original - local language - objects. As you can see in the screen below, you can find the folders with the translations immediately under the folder that contains the corresponding local language:


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Figure: Language objects in MIS Universe - Example Dossier Languages

The following example scenario explains the steps you must take to translate the company's country of a particular Dossier into a second and a third language beside the local language. The resulting report will display the total sales amounts per product line.

In the MIS environment of our example below the local language is English. The other language codes correspond to the following languages:

• L1 = Spanish

• L2 = French

Chapter 5 Tip: Displaying Your Report Data in Different Languages


To include translations in your report:

1. Define the query to retrieve the information you require:

Figure: Defining the query

2. From the Comp Addr languages folder in the Company Address folder, drag and drop the Company Addr Country Name L1 object and the Company Addr Country Name L2 object into the query table.

Figure: Adding the translations to the query

3. Click the Run button to execute the query. Two columns displaying the translated country names appear in the report.


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Figure: Two other languages added to the report

You can now go ahead and delete the column with the country names in the original language, should you wish to do so.


Chapter 6

Tip: Using Dynamic Date Conditions

What Are Dynamic Date Objects? The Amadeus MIS universe offers a special category of objects, the date objects, that allow you to apply dynamic date conditions to your reports. The date objects are dynamic in the sense that the date conditions are always considered relative to the current date.

As a result, you do not have to adapt your reports over time. For example, a report listing all invoices created on the current day will display different results when it is run today than when it is run tomorrow.

Note: You can only use the date objects as conditions applied to your report data. You cannot use a date object as a report object in its own right.


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The available date objects can be found in the Date Objects class in the MIS Universe:

Figure: Date Objects in the MIS Universe

Example Scenario In the following scenario we will generate a report that lists all customers that were invoiced for trip bookings to Madrid since the beginning of last year up to today. We will use two date objects in order to state a condition that extracts data for the previous year and this year.

1. Drag and drop the query objects that you require into the Result Objects panel.

2. Drag and drop the proper date-related object into the Conditions panel, then double-click the proper operator in the Operators panel.

In our scenario we use the Inv Creation Date object and the Between operator in order to define the time period.

Chapter 6 Tip: Using Dynamic Date Conditions


Figure: Selecting the operator

3. Now select the first <Select an operand type> item in the Conditions panel.

Figure: Defining the period condition

4. Double-click the Select an object operand in the Operands panel.

The Classes and objects panel will become visible.


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5. Double-click the proper date object to define the start of the period.

In our scenario we use the First Day Year - Previous Year date object as start date.


6. Now select the second <Select an operand type> item in the Conditions panel, and again double-click the Select an object operand in the Operands panel.

7. Double-click the proper date object to define the end of the period.

Chapter 6 Tip: Using Dynamic Date Conditions


In our scenario we use the Today date object as end date.


8. Once you have defined the period condition, and you have selected Madrid as destination condition, you can run the report.


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The report will display solely the Agency Manager data of the customers that were invoiced for flights to Madrid since the start of last year up to the current day.

Figure: Report Example


Chapter 7

Tip: Using Predefined Conditions

In the MIS universe there are a number of predefined conditions available, which enable you to save time. These conditional objects are related to Amadeus Agency Manager dossiers, products and segments.

More: For detailed descriptions of the conditional objects, please consult the Universe Objects MIS user guide.

Below we will demonstrate, by means of an example scenario, how you can apply conditional objects when building a report query. In our query scenario we will add conditions stating that only Agency Manager data on flight and fare products that have been invoiced should be included in the report.

1. Access the Predefined Conditions panel by selecting the radio button next

to the filter ( ) icon at the bottom of the Classes and Objects panel on the left-hand side of the screen. The Predefined Conditions panel will replace the Classes and Objects panel and lists the available conditions grouped into classes, in the same way that objects are grouped into classes.


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Figure: Conditional Objects in the MIS Universe

2. Drag and drop the required objects into the Result Objects panel.

3. Drag and drop the required predefined conditions into the Conditions panel.

In our example we use the Aviation/Fares products and the Invoiced products conditional objects. Like this you indicate that you only want to have information on flight and fare products that have been invoiced in your report.

Chapter 7 Tip: Using Predefined Conditions


Figure: Query with Conditional Objects

4. Click the Run button to execute the query.

The report displays solely the data on invoiced aviation and fare products.

Figure: Report Example


Chapter 8

Tip: Step by Step Creation of a Report with a Customer Hierarchy

This tip shows you how to create a report displaying data from various levels in your customer hierarchy. There are three major steps you have to take to obtain such a report:

• Build your data provider

• Create indicator objects

• Create sections and tables

These steps have been broken up into smaller steps for the purpose of this step-by-step description.

How to Build the Data Provider The objects that have to be included in the data provider to build the report are:

Prod Cust Code

Prodline Hierarchy Level 1 Code




Etcetera

The number of levels you have in your organisation determines the number of level objects you must take. There are 10 levels available through the universe although only 9 can be used at the same time in one report. Business Objects has a limitation of 9 sections per report!

Note: This report will only display data from the levels that you have integrated in your report. If your hierarchy changes in Agency Manager and that change is on a level that is not added to the report, the information at that level will not be shown. When a level is added at the bottom of the hierarchy, for example, no data of that level will be displayed.


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Therefore, think about how to handle these future changes, before creating a report like this. For example:

- Create the report for all nine levels, even though you do not need all of them at this point. This will ensure that future changes to the hierarchy will always be included in the reports. When you change the hierarchy in Agency Manager, no change is needed at report level.

- Create the report for the amount of levels you have right now and change your report at the time you change the structure in Agency Manager.

Apart from adding the required levels to the data provider, you can include the data you would want to see for each level: Dossier number, product line number, total sales amount including VAT, and so on.

Prod Dos Nr

Prodline Nr

Prod Cust Name

Total Sales Incl VAT (A)

We will also include these objects in this example and use eight levels. When you run the query, you will see the following objects are available to create the report:

How to Build Dummy/Indicator Objects As this is a rather complex report, we will need to create an extra object that will help us correctly structure our report in a transparent way.

We will need to create an object that will indicate at which level inside the hierarchy a booking was made.

We create the new object based on the following formula:

Chapter 8 Tip: Step by Step Creation of a Report with a Customer Hierarchy


Object Name

Type Formula

Level Indicator

= If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 1 Code> Then 1 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 2 Code> Then 2 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 3 Code> Then 3 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 4 Code> Then 4 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 5 Code> Then 5 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 6 Code> Then 6 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 7 Code> Then 7 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 8 Code> Then 8 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 9 Code> Then 9 Else If <Prod Cust Code>=<Prodline Hierarchy Level 10 Code> Then 10

Result:

Creating Sections and Tables

How to Create the Report Sections An easy way to create the report sections is to create a table using all the “Prodline Hierarchy Level x Code” objects. This will result in a table like this:

You can create the sections by simply dragging and dropping the columns outside the table to the correct location.

Start creating the Top level (level 1) by dragging the data from column “Prodline Hierarchy Level 1 Code” on top of the table.


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Use the same principle to create the remaining sections (levels) inside your report. In this case, creating sections for eight levels will give you the following result:

The report will be divided into different sections. Depending on the number of levels, you will see a lot of empty cells and sections. We will need to hide those by adding conditions in the section properties.

Step 1: hide the empty cells. To hide the empty cells:

5. Right-click each cell per level and select Format Cell.



6. On the Appearance tab, set the following properties:

- Select Hide Cell.

- Insert the formula =IsNull (<Prodline Hierarchy Level 8 Code>) depending on the level at which you are hiding the cells. For example: level 7 =IsNull (<Prodline Hierarchy Level 7 Code>).

Repeat this step for all levels. You only have to do this once per level. The properties will automatically be set for all cells in the report for that level.

Note: Use the Position parameters to cleanly structure your report.

Step 2: Remove the section headers and footers to improve the structure of the report.

To remove the section headers and footers:

1. - Right click inside every section, and select Format Section.


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2. - Set the following parameters on the General tab:

- Select Hide Section Header

- Insert the following code in the Hide section header formula bar: =IsNull (<Prodline Hierarchy Level 1 Code>)

Note: The formula you need to use depends on the level section you are hiding. For example: level 7 =IsNull (<Prodline Hierarchy Level 7 Code>)

- Select Hide Section Footer This option will not be available for the lowest level on the report.

Repeat this step for all sections. The result will be that all sections will follow nicely one after the other.



How to Create the Report Tables Step 1: create the tables that will display actual report data. It will be necessary to create a table inside every section, and then use the indicator built earlier on to filter out the required data:

1. Select the objects you want as well as the indicator object .

For example, for level 1 select:

- Level Indicator

- Prod Cust Code

- Prod Cust Name

- Prod Dos Nr

- Prodline Nr

- Total Sales Incl VAT (A)


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2. Drag and drop these objects in the correct section.

Note: Make sure that the right section is highlighted when you drop the objects. You can select the sections by hovering over them while dropping the objects.

Note: You can also use the Insert > Table option from the menu bar to insert the table.

As a result you will see all the data in your section, but your indicator will indicate which data belongs to this level.

3. Simply filter out the rows you want by adding a filter to the indicator object.

Define this filter to see only the data where the indicator has the same value as the level at which the table is being displayed.

For example: For level one, we would only show the rows with value 1.



This example only contains bookings at eight levels, so only eight levels are shown.

4. Click OK.

Finally, you need to hide the indicator object in your table properties:

1. Right-click in the table, and select Format Table.

2. Hide the indicator field on the Pivot tab:


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3. On the Appearance tab, set the following properties:

- Select Hide Block

- Insert the formula =IsNull(<Prodline Hierarchy Level 1 Code>).

Note: The formula you need to use depends on the level section you are hiding. For example: level 7 =IsNull (<Prodline Hierarchy Level 7 Code>)

The result will be that the data for level 1 is shown on level 1 without any of the other data.



Step 2: create the tables for each section and design the report layout. When tables have been created for each section, you need to create these tables for every section, and further take care of the report layout. This example displays a tree with several branches, and one booking at each level.


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For example, you can add totals at each level by using the following formula: “=Sum(<Total Sales Incl VAT (A)>)”

Depending on where it is used, Business Objects will automatically aggregate the correct amount. Therefore, make sure it is added to the correct section or table.




Chapter 9

Tip: Adding Your Logo To a Report

To add your logo to a report:

1. Open your report.

2. Select Insert > Object... from the Main Menu. The Insert Object dialog box pops up.

Figure: Insert object

3. Select Create from file and click Browse... to select the image to display on your report.

4. Click on OK.


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The inserted logo will now be embedded in your report. You can drag and drop it to an appropriate spot in the report.

Restrictions:

• The image you insert must have the .bmp file format.

• The maximum file size of the report including the image file is limited to 2 MB.


Chapter 10

Tip: Creating a Report on Statement Payments (Payments at Dossier Level)

Amadeus MIS allows you to create reports on statement payments. Agency Manager's statement payments functionality allows travel agencies to register payment documents and to allocate one single payment, with one or more payment modes such as cheque or credit card, to one or more dossiers for one or more customers. Alternatively, multiple payments can be allocated to one dossier, for example.

Below is an example scenario of how to build a report on statement payments in MIS.

1. Drag and drop the required query objects from the Dossier Payments class. As a prerequisite, make sure to use the Dossier Payment Internal Sequence object as well. You can hide this field in the table properties afterwards.

Figure: Building a Report on Statement Payments - Example Scenario


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2. Click on the Options... button in the left below corner of the Query Panel. The Query Options dialog box opens.

Figure: Preventing Duplicate Rows in the Report

3. Select the No Duplicate Rows option button to prevent the appearance of duplicate payments in your reports.

4. Click on the OK button.

As a result, no redundant (duplicate) payment records will be displayed in the MIS reports generated.

Figure: Report Sample


Chapter 11

Tip: Handling Locale-Specific Formatting of 'Undefined' Measures

Locale settings are settings that are specific to a particular country or region and determine how Web Intelligence displays its report data (for instance date and time formats). A locale is a combination of a language and geographical area.

You set preferences for interface and formatting locales in the Web Intelligence Rich Client by selecting Tools > Options... from the Main menu and going to the Locale tab of the Options dialog box.

Figure: Locale Tab

When you have the Internationalization settings as defined above, it may happen that you decide to select an available locale from the Select formatting locale drop-down list to determine locale-specific formatting rules.


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Figure: Selecting a Locale - Example Scenario

Suppose that to process report fields for which NO data can be found (field is empty), you defined a locale-specific formatting in the Undefined field on the Number Format dialog box, which can be accessed for a specific report field by right-clicking on the field and selecting the Format number... option.

Figure: Defining Formatting for 'Undefined' Measure Values - Example Scenario

Chapter 11 Tip: Handling Locale-Specific Formatting of 'Undefined' Measures


The issue is that when you move to another locale, the formats of measures (numbers, dates, percentages,...) in the generated report are accordingly adjusted into the new locale format (for instance 2.34), except for the 'undefined' report fields which will still retain the 'old' undefined format value (for instance 0,00), because the new locale formatting does not apply to empty report fields.

A resolution to this issue is to, by default, leave the Undefined field empty for the measure formatting of your report fields in order to prevent the report from containing different formats.

Figure: Leaving the 'Undefined' Field Empty

The result will be that undefined fields remain empty in your reports.

Figure: Empty Fields in Reports - Example Scenario

More: For detailed information on setting locales, please refer to the standard user documentation provided by Business Objects.


Chapter 12

Tip: Web Intelligence versus Desktop Intelligence

In this chapter we want to raise awareness about some important differences between reports created in Business Object's Desktop Intelligence tool and reports created in Business Object's Web Intelligence Rich Client.

• Desk Intelligence reports are .rep files created from the Desktop Intelligence full client. Deski reports can be refreshed and scheduled in InfoView and modified in Desktop Intelligence.

• Web Intelligence reports are .wid files created from the Web Intelligence Rich Client. Webi reports can be refreshed and scheduled in InfoView and modified in Web Intelligence Rich Client.

What Are the Major Benefits of Web Intelligence Rich Client?

Better Web-Based Performance

Compared to Desktop Intelligence, the technology used by Web Intelligence Rich Client offers better web-based performance and higher interactivity over the web.

Ease of Use and Ease of Maintenance

The user interface of Web Intelligence Rich Client provides you with a number of changed and new features, which further improve the user-friendliness of the MIS report building tool. Compared to Desktop Intelligence, Web Intelligence Rich Client offers a better-organized presentation of tasks, results and properties.


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Enhanced Features in the User Inferface of Web Intelligence Rich Client Compared to Desktop Intelligence

The Web Intelligence Rich Client's user interface offers various changed and new features compared to Desktop Intelligence. Here you find a summary of the principal enhancements.

Presentation of Classes, Query Objects and Filters

Classes, objects and predefined conditions appear in a single tab on the Create Query window.

Figure: Conditional Object in MIS Universe - Example

Drag-and-Drop Query Objects

In Web Intelligence Rich Client, the drag-and-drop feature has been improved in that you can move multiple query objects at once into the Result Objects panel and move objects from the Result Objects panel into the Query Filters panel to build conditions.

Chapter 12 Tip: Web Intelligence versus Desktop Intelligence


Clearing Selected Query Objects

You can remove all selected query objects from the Result Objects panel at once by clicking on the 'Remove All' icon.

Figure: Enhanced Drag-and-Drop - Example

Query Object Information

Hovering your mouse cursor over any class or object in the MIS universe panel or any object in the Result Objects panel displays a tip with additional information. This information includes the object/class name, object type and description.


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Figure: Extra Information on Query Objects in MIS Universe Panel - Example

Figure: Extra Information on Query Objects in Result Objects Panel - Example

Scope of Analysis

To define a customized scope of analysis for drill, an extra Scope of Analysis panel is integrated in the Create Query window.



Note: Scope of analysis is the ability to retrieve extra data from the database compared to what is selected in the Result objects panel and in the report.

Combined Queries

Web Intelligence allows you to build combined queries (Union; Except, Intersect operations) within the Create Query window.

Clicking on the 'Add a combined query' icon makes combined queries available. Each query must have the same number of result objects but can have different query filters.

Figure: Combined Queries and Scope of Analysis - Example

Subquery

Within Web Intelligence Rich Client, subqueries are designed and represented graphically within the Query Filters panel, along with other types of query filters. This offers a full view of the complete query, including all query conditions.


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Figure: Query Filter with a Subquery - Example

Report Filters

In Web Intelligence Rich Client, you can use the Filter icon on the Report toolbar to build a filter on a report block, allowing you to select values from a pop-up window with a list of values. You can also create more complex filters, with formulas for instance.

Figure: Defining a Report Filter - Example



The Report Filters panel is integrated in the Report window, showing the definition of all filters applied to a report block or to a report and the relation between these filters.

Figure: Report Filter Added - Example

Break Priority in Reports

A report table can contain multiple breaks that you can prioritize. Within Web Intelligence, Break priority can be set in the Breaks dialog box using the arrow buttons.

Figure: Setting Break Priority - Example


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Ranking Report Data

When defining Custom Sorts, you can add values that do not occur in the current query result, but values that might exist in the future. This feature in Web Intelligence provides more flexibility as values evolve from period to period in a predicable way.

Figure: Customized Sorting of Report Data - Example

Layout Differences Between Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence Reports

Hiding Empty Sections

While you can use conditional formulas in Desktop Intelligence to determine that empty sections should be hidden in reports, this is not possible to hide empty sections in Web Intelligence reports.

Hiding Empty Data Blocks

• While in Desktop Intelligence reports, empty data blocks are automatically hidden, in Web Intelligence reports, empty columns and rows and blank charts resulting from report queries that returned no data or value zero will by default remain visible.



Figure: Empty Data Block in Report - Example

• If a block in a Web Intelligence report is designed to contain data for two date periods and one date period does not contain any data, that block will still be displayed.

• Section or subsection headers in Web Intelligence reports are still displayed even if the associated data block is empty.

• There are small differences in the default chart colors and legend position between Desk Intelligence and Web Intelligence reports.

Conditional Hiding

In Desktop Intelligence, a table/column/row/cell can be hidden based on a user-defined condition. In Web Intelligence Rich Client, such customized conditions are not available.

You can apply a workaround in Web intelligence for this, by using a variable and defining alerters on the table/column/row/cell to be hidden.

Figure: Conditional Formatting - Example

Automatic Resizing of Report Pages

Within Desktop Intelligence, you can define via File > Page Setup > Fit to Print that if the width or height of the report table exceeds the page margins, it will be


Guide

64 Edition 8.0

automatically resized to fit the page, for instance when the report is printed in .xls or PDF format.

However, automatic resizing is NOT possible in the Web Intelligence Rich Client: you need to verify that the width and height of your reports do not exceed the page margins.


Index

A automatic resizing, 64

E empty data blocks, 62 empty sections, 62

F formatting locale, 51

L layout differences, 55 Locale settings, 51

M MIS in BusinessObjects

workarounds, 1

P predefined conditions, 29, 30

T Tip 1

Customer levels, 3 Tip 2

Sales amounts on segment level, 5 Tip 3

Adding fees to total sales amount, 11 Tip 4

Displaying your report data in different languages, 19

Tip 5 Using dynamic date conditions, 23

Tip 7 Adding your logo to a report, 47

Date post:	18-Jul-2015
Category:	Engineering
Upload:	apurv-shekhar
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Report building tips and tricks mis v8.0

Engineering