8. The Analysis View

The ReportServer analysis view is used both by the pivot mode of the dynamic list (see chapter 7.) and by OLAP reports. The handling is almost identical in both cases. The main difference is that in OLAP reports no further setting options can be made outside the analysis view. In the pivot mode of the dynamic list, on the other hand, you as the end user define dimensions and key figures and can limit the data totals using pre-filters and create new attributes using calculated fields.

The analysis view consists of four areas. The toolbar is located centrally at the top. This provides various options for customizing the view. The available dimensions and key figures can be found on the left-hand side. On the right, you can switch between data and chart mode. In the center, as usual, you will find the main view in which the data is displayed.

To understand the basic mode of operation, it is easiest to think in terms of a (multidimensional) cross table. The following table is a representation of the product survey data from Chapter 7 (Table ).

Here, grouping characteristics are arranged both in the columns and in the rows. Key figures are aggregated in the average of the grouping characteristics. The cell with a gray background thus contains the average rating of male respondents over 40 for the TV product. Schematically, we can represent such a crosstab as follows:

The basic mode of operation now corresponds to the structure of such a crosstab. In the center view, you will see the Columns and Rows areas (we will discuss the Filter area later). Here you distribute the desired dimensions, in the example above product category and gender. Simply drag the dimensions from the left to the column or row area with the mouse. As soon as at least one dimension is distributed to each of the rows and columns, a cross table is displayed below (depending on the amount of data, this may take a few moments).

For example, if we drag the characteristic Product category to Rows and Gender to Columns, the following table is displayed.

If none has been explicitly selected, the first one in the list is used as the aggregation key figure. To make this explicit, drag the desired aggregation (in the example) value to the columns or rows. If a key figure is dragged to columns, the following screen appears

The existing dimensions are displayed as a folder on the left. One or more characteristics can belong to a dimension. For example, the dimension Time can contain the characteristics Year, Month and Day. To view the existing characteristics, open the dimension folder.

In addition to the existing characteristics, you will see a characteristic (All) for each dimension. You can drag this to rows or columns in the same way as other characteristics. The (All) characteristic basically describes the entire dimension and thus provides a further aggregation level. In the example above, product category and product would form a common dimension. The product dimension would therefore be displayed on the left as follows:

Produkt
   +---- (All)
   +---- Produktkategorie
   +---- Produkt

If you now set the (All) characteristic to Rows and the key figure Rating to Columns, the following results table is obtained:

The (All) feature now allows you to look deeper into the dimension, i.e. to add further aggregation levels. To display sub-levels of the dimension, left-click on the "All products" label in the displayed crosstab and select Show children from the context menu. This causes the display to change as follows:

You can now descend further into the dimension or, conversely, remove divisions.

In the following, we present the toolbar options in detail. From left to right, you will find them here:

If you have dragged a characteristic to a row or column, you can set up additional filters for it. To do this, click on the magnifying glass next to a characteristic to open the filter dialog. The filter dialog has a similar structure to the dynamic list. If you are working in the pivot mode of a dynamic list, we recommend using the pre-filter aspect for complex filters or when filtering on attributes with large values.

If you want to filter on dimensions that should not appear in the result set, you can drag them to the filter area.

If you have dragged a characteristic to a row or column, you can activate sorting for this characteristic using the arrows displayed there (next to the magnifying glass).

Instead of displaying as a cross table, you can switch to diagram mode via the right-hand sidebar. Many different chart types are available here. Of course, you can also export a report in analysis mode as a chart or integrate such a chart into your dashboard.

The drill function allows you to display the data records on which an aggregation result is based. To do this, select the drill tool from the toolbar and then click on an aggregation result. In the following dialog, you can adjust the output by selecting the dimensions and key figures to be returned. You can also limit the maximum size of the result set. Please note that large result sets can have a significant impact on the performance of the system and should therefore be exported (Drill Export button in the toolbar).