Using the Analysis Designer

In this section:

The Analysis Designer enables you to specify parameter options and run a view based on those options. The available parameter options are grouped into five sections: Layout, Groupings, Data, Filters, and Report.

In the Filters section of the Analysis Designer, you can filter the view by selecting any combination of specific values including time, product, scorecard, objective, perspective, theme, metrics, location, organization, and measure. If you want to select multiple measures, click the browse (...) button to the right of the Measure drop-down menu. The Multi-Measure Selector dialog box opens.

Note that you can force the report to always use the selected scorecard by selecting the check box next to Scorecard in the Filters section of the Analysis Designer. Leaving the check box clear allows an end user to pass the scorecard they wish to view at run time.

In the Layout, Groupings, and Data sections of the Analysis Designer, you can select a report template, sort criteria, and the type of data you want to show. There are nine different report templates that you can select: Metrics Vertical Sort, Metrics Across Dimension, Metrics Crosstab, Objectives Vertical Sort, Objectives Across Dimension, Objectives Crosstab, Themes Vertical Sort, Themes Across Dimension, and Themes Crosstab. You can select from primary and secondary vertical sort fields, and a horizontal sort field when you select the Metrics Across Dimension or Objectives Across Dimension report templates. Views can be sorted by perspective, objective, year, quarter, month, location, product, organization, supplier, or theme. You can control the output by selecting to show actual output data, multiple alternate targets plus indicators, or the percentage of goals achieved plus indicator information. For an example of displaying multiple alternate targets in a view, see Running the Metrics Vertical Sort View. Additionally, the Analysis Designer enables you to show any combination of value, percent reached, and indicator to compare up to four columns of data. This gives you the ability to create thousands of different views.

In the Report section of the Analysis Designer, you determine the output format by selecting to display the view in a browser, a PDF file, a WebFOCUS HTML active report, an Excel spreadsheet, which can be sent to end users for offline analysis. Enter a report name at the top of the Analysis Designer so it can be saved for future use. You can also use the Quick Reporting Mart option to take data from PMF and build custom content. For more information, see Designing a PMF Quick Reporting Mart.

Running the Metrics Across Dimension View

PMF provides the Metrics Across Dimension template, which you can use to create a view that displays metrics horizontally across your organization using the selected parameters. This view requires you to select an Across sort field.

To run the Metrics Across Dimension view, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Analysis, and then click Analysis Designer. The Analysis Designer opens where you select the desired report template and specify your parameter options.

Type a report name in the field provided (for example, Product Analysis by Quarter). From the Layout drop-down menu, select Metrics Across Dimension and then select the desired parameters in the Groupings and Filters sections, as shown in the following image.

Metrics Across Dimension view

Click Run to execute and open the grid. The following image shows the Metrics Across Dimension view for the selected parameter values.

Metrics Across Dimension view

The Options button at the top-left of the view enables you to Print the view, Output (export) to an Excel file, Output to a PDF, add to Mobile favorites, or Schedule the run time and distribution of the view using the Report Wizard. You can also display alternate target data in the view by selecting Show Benchmark, Show Forecast, or Show Stretch Target.

Running the Metrics Vertical Sort View

PMF provides the Metrics Vertical Sort template, which you can use to create a view that displays metrics vertically using the selected parameters and vertical sort field.

To run the Metrics Analysis, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Analysis, and then click Analysis Designer. The Analysis Designer opens where you select the desired report template and specify your parameter options.

Type a name in the field provided (for example, Product Analysis by Month). From the Layout drop-down menu, select Metrics Vertical Sort, and then select the desired parameters in the Groupings and Filters sections, as shown in the following image.

Metrics Vertical Sort view

Click Run to execute and open this view in a new window. The following image shows the Metrics Vertical Sort view for the selected parameter values.

Metric Vertical Sort view

The Options button at the top-left of the view enables you to Print the view, Output (export) to an Excel file, Output to a PDF, add to Mobile favorites, or Schedule the run time and distribution of the view using the Report Wizard. You can also display alternate target data in the view by selecting Show Benchmark, Show Forecast, or Show Stretch Target.

Running the Metrics Crosstab View

PMF provides the Metrics Crosstab template, which you can use to create a view that displays metrics horizontally using the selected parameters. This view enables you to see dimensional breakouts across many measures. When you run the Metrics Crosstab report, you can visually analyze your measures on a point-to-point basis across the selected sorting levels.

To run the Metrics Analysis, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Analysis, and then click Analysis Designer. The Analysis Designer opens where you select the desired report template and specify your parameter options. If you click the browse (...) button to the right of the Measure drop-down menu, you can select multiple measures to personalize the columns you want displayed in the output.

Type a report name in the field provided. From the Layout drop-down menu, select Metrics Crosstab, select the desired parameters, and then click Run to execute and open this view in a new window. The following image shows an example of the Metrics Crosstab view.

Metrics Crosstab view

Creating Active Technologies Reports

You can use the Analysis Designer to create HTML active reports. The Analysis Designer enables you to design personalized PMF output that can be sent to end users along with embedded data and built-in browser-neutral analysis tools. To request your content to be delivered as an active report, select the Active option in the Format area of the Analysis Designer and click Run.

Note: The use of WebFOCUS HTML active reports requires a specific software license from Information Builders.

Automatic Trend Dates

To better facilitate generating performance trend views with the Analysis Designer, standard trending dates are available in the Time dimension drop-down menu in the Filters section of the Analysis Designer. You can quickly create a trend view that looks back from the current period to the start of the trend period selected.

For CenturyCorp Card, the default options available for the trend periods include Last 13 Months, Last 25 Months, Last 5 Quarters, and so on, as shown in the following image. The Current Period is the default Time selection.

Filters drop-down menu

If you create personalized trend periods using the Time Ranges capability of the Manage page, those values will be available in the Filters section of the Analysis Designer, as shown in the following image. For more information, see Manage Tab - Time Ranges.

Hi-Mid-Low Raw Counts and Percents of Total

You can use the Analysis Designer to report both the total Hi-Mid-Low (Hi-Mid-Low or red/yellow/green) counts for a metric range, as well as the Hi-Mid-Low Percent of Total, which shows the share of each indicator of the total count of metric values in that metric range.

These options can be found in the Data drop-down menu of the Analysis Designer, as shown in the following image.

Data drop-down menu

The display options are:

Variance by Value and Percent Reached

You can use the Analysis Designer to report both the variance value from Target, as well as the percent variance from Target.

These options can be found in the Data drop-down menu of the Analysis Designer, as shown in the following image.

Type drop-down menu

The display options are:

Ranking Metrics and Objectives

Metrics and objectives for views and in gadgets can be displayed based on the ranking of their performance or value. The available options are Rank Ascending or Rank Descending. The default sorting setting is alphabetic.

To set up Ranking, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Analysis, and then click Analysis Designer. The Analysis Designer opens where you select the desired report template and specify your parameter options. If you click to the left of the data field, of the Value that you want to rank, a ranking button appears, as shown in the following image.

Rank Ascending

If you click to the left of another field and the previous field has been ranked, it will transfer to the newly selected field.

Note: Only Vertical Sort styles of the Measure, Objective, and Theme templates can support ranking.

PMF ranking sorts the report information by the value or the percent reached. For example, if you chose a value for actual or target, PMF ranks based on the value of the field for the indicators. If you choose a percent reached field, or a combo indicator, PMF ranks based on the percent reached for the indicators.

If you choose a sort value from the Sorting options, PMF displays the rank within the outermost sort type indicated. For example, if sorting by one or more Dimensions, PMF performs the rank within the innermost dimension. If sorting by Perspective, PMF ranks the items within each perspective. The only exception to this is when sorting on the Time Dimension.

Categorizing a Saved Report

In this section:

PMF has several predefined categories that allows a user to categorize and share saved reports with other users, including Administration, Analysis, Audit, CPM/BPM Practice, History, Measures Detail, Objective, Perspective, Projects & Processes, Today, and Private. There are also ten additional user-defined categories available, which are set up in the Content panel by your Administrator.

Categorizing and Publishing a New Analysis Designer Report

If you create a new report in Analysis Designer, you can quickly add the report to any category while saving it. Click the Categories field and select the desired categories from the drop-down menu, as shown in the following image.

Categories drop-down menu

You can also type the category name in the field provided to quickly search through the list.

Click OK to save the report.

Analysis Designer reports that have been user-categorized will appear in the drawer, under the Saved section, as well as in the categories to which they have been assigned, as shown in the following image.

Saved reports

Other users can now see and run the report.

Adding or Removing Categories from Saved Reports

You can change the categories of any saved report. To add a category to, or remove a category from a saved report, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Analysis, and then click Analysis Designer. Click Open and select the report from the Report Name drop-down menu. Click OK.

Click the Categories field and select the desired categories from the drop-down menu. To remove a category, click the X next to the category name. Click Save once you are done making changes. The report will now be listed in the drawer, under the Saved section, as well as under the new categories selected.

Saving a View

After you run a view, you can save its parameters and run the view again later. To save a view created in the Analysis Designer, type a report name in the Report field provided at the top of the Analysis Designer and click Save.

Running a Saved View

To run a saved view, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Saved, and then click the name of the saved view.

Editing a Saved View

You can change the parameters of any saved view. To edit a saved view, click the dashboard icon Dashboard icon on the Today page. Click Content, select Saved, and then click the desired saved view. The Report panel opens where you can change your parameter options. After you are done making changes, run the view to test the results of your changes. If you are satisfied with the results, click Save.


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