MORE WEB INTELLIGENCE TIPS AND TRICKS

Michael Welter, BOCP-BOE Westbay Solutions y

COPYRIGHT 2007 BUSINESS OBJECTS S.A.

BREAKOUT INFORMATION
More Web Intelligence Tips and Tricks
New to Web Intelligence, or already experienced? Either way Intelligence way, you're using one of the most powerful end-user reporting tools on the market, and now it's time to make an important investment in y yourself. Attend this session, and learn about tips and tricks to , p make your Web Intelligence reports the envy of your coworkers. See several, sophisticated techniques demonstrated. Unlock the secrets of advanced report creation, and master this tool. Learn how to improve performance of reports during development, how to make templates, and much more.

Wednesday, Wednesda Oct 17, 4:45pm-5:45pm, room 314 17 4 45pm 5 45pm room:
Also Thursday, Oct 18, 8:00am-9:00am, room: 308CD
1_21_350

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AGENDA
1. Intro: What is Web Intelligence? 2. 2 Creating templates in Web Intelligence 3. A simple productivity tip 4. Contexts and functions 5. Folding a Web Intelligence report 6. Displaying the best in a table 7. Prompt for block type 8. Prompt for section headers 9. 9 Special Date Formatting 10. Q&A

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WHAT IS WEB INTELLIGENCE?

A web-based interface that enables web based users to do ad hoc Reporting via the web and save reports to BusinessObjects Enterprise.

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CREATING TEMPLATES IN WEB INTELLIGENCE

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CREATING TEMPLATES IN WEB INTELLIGENCE

Create a Public Folder called Templates
Grant the Everyone group View access Modify access to allow Copy Copy objects to other folders

Create two simple documents, with all f ith ll formatting tti

One document will be landscape, save as Landscape Template One document will be portrait, save as Portrait Template

Save both documents in the Templates folder

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A SIMPLE PRODUCTIVITY TIP

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A SIMPLE PRODUCTIVITY TIP

While developing a large report, use Structure View
Avoids the need for Web Intelligence to render the data

Also, avoid Page Layout view

Avoids the need for Web Intelligence to calculate pages

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CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS

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CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS

Calculation Contexts: A Recurring Theme
Most of the time, the default context works fine time But when it doesnt, we need to understand how they work Lets start will an Alerter based on an average

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CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS

We need to have the overall average for each line
Create a variable called Average Revenue Formula
=Average([Sales revenue])In Block

In Block changes the context In Block from the row to the block

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CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS

Create the Alerter
Where Sales Revenue < Average Revenue Sales Revenue Average Revenue

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CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS

Next, Notice Store name has been truncated This was done with a simple Substring variable
=Substr([Store name];11;Length([Store g name]))

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CONTEXTS AND FUNCTIONS

Finally, the prompt value shows up in title This was done with a simple Concatenation variable
="Revenue Report for "+UserResponse("Enter p Year:")

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FOLDING A WEB INTELLIGENCE REPORT

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FOLDING A WEB INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Folding is simply hiding the body, leaving only the headers and footers

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FOLDING A WEB INTELLIGENCE REPORT

To hide the body, we will simply move the footer contents to the body Start by creating variables for each footer item
Count of Categories: =Count([Category]) Count of Lines: =Count([Lines]) Sum of Revenue: =Sum([Sales revenue]) y y Sum of Qty Sold: =Sum([Quantity sold])

Next, replace the contents of the body with the variables

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FOLDING A WEB INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Finally, remove the Break Header and Break Footer, and display the Table Header

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DISPLAYING THE BEST IN A TABLE

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DISPLAYING THE BEST IN A TABLE

What was the best year, and the value for that year?

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DISPLAYING THE BEST IN A TABLE

OK, this was easy, but not in earlier versions
Place a Break on Store name Place a Rank on Year, showing the top 1 Remove the Breaker Header and Break Footer Add th T bl H d the Table Header

See how simple that was?

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PROMPT FOR BLOCK TYPE

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PROMPT FOR BLOCK TYPE

Prompt for Table or Chart when refreshing a document In Desktop Intelligence, this was easy with Hide Block Intelligence Hide Block But we can make it work in Web Intelligence, too

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PROMPT FOR BLOCK TYPE

We start in Universe Designer, and create a Prompt object Disclaimer: This object will not parse, but will work when used with other objects

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PROMPT FOR BLOCK TYPE

Next, we create a query, using the new object

None of those objects are used in the report Create 2 variables for each universe object:
Chart Year: =If(UserResponse("Display Data in Table or Chart?")="Chart";[Year]) Table Year: =If(UserResponse("Display Data in Table or Chart?")="Table";[Year])

Create a table using the Table variables Table Create a chart using the Chart variables
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PROMPT FOR BLOCK TYPE

Set the Table and Chart to not be shown when empty Place the chart on top of the table

OR

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PROMPT FOR SECTION HEADERS

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PROMPT FOR SECTION HEADERS

Dynamically section a report based on Prompt response Requires new objects in universe

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PROMPT FOR SECTION HEADERS

Create query, using new objects

Run the query, selecting a different object for each section

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PROMPT FOR SECTION HEADERS

Create a variable for each section
Section 1 Object: =If([Section 1]="Lines";[Lines];If([Sec tion 1]="State";[State];[Year]) ) Section 2 Object: =If([Section 2]="Lines";[Lines];If([Sec tion 2]="State";[State];[Year]) 2] [ ] [ ]) ) Section 3 Object: =If([Section 3]="Lines";[Lines];If([Sec 3] "Lines" [Lines] If([Sec tion 3]="State";[State];[Year]) )

Finally, Finally section the report on the 3 new variables

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SPECIAL DATE FORMATTING

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SPECIAL DATE FORMATTING

There was a request on BOB to format dates on a report as 1st-22-2007 Of course, this is not an available date format This required a series of variables:
Sale Date Text: =FormatDate([Sale Date]; MM-dd-yyyy ) Date];"MM dd yyyy")
This simply converts the date to a character string

Month Text: =If(Left([Sale Date - Text];2)="01";"1st-";If(Left([Sale Date - Text];2)="02";"2nd-";If(Left([Sale Date - Text];2)="03";"3rdText];2)= 02 ; 2nd- ;If(Left([Sale Text];2)= 03 ; 3rd";If(Left([Sale Date Text];2)InList("04";"05";"06";"07";"08";"09");Substr([Sale Date Text];2;1)+"th-";Left([Sale Date - Text];2)+"th-"))))
This formats the month portion of the date

Formatted Date: =[Month Text]+Substr([Sale Date - Text];4;7)

This concatenated the Month with the rest of the date. Of course, it remains a character string
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SPECIAL DATE FORMATTING

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Q&A
Questions
Michael Welter Sr BI Consultant Westbay Solutions Group Welter, Sr. Consultant, I will repeat questions to ensure everyone can hear

Contact information C f
Michael.Welter@WestbaySolutions.com ( (909)899-3002 ) www.WestbaySolutions.com

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