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Performing Common Tasks in Siebel Analytics

This section explains how to perform common tasks in Siebel Analytics. It contains the following topics:

• Exiting from Siebel Analytics
• Viewing Descriptions of Siebel Analytics Dashboards and Saved Requests
• Printing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard or Saved Request
• Emailing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard Page or Request
• Downloading Siebel Analytics Results
• Refreshing a Siebel Intelligence Dashboard or Siebel Analytics Request
• Refreshing Information in the Siebel Analytics Selection Pane

Exiting from Siebel Analytics

Do not close the browser window to exit from Siebel Analytics.

To exit from Siebel Analytics

• From any Siebel Analytics screen, click the Log Out link.

Viewing Descriptions of Siebel Analytics Dashboards and Saved Requests

Descriptions are supplied when a dashboard or request is saved in the Web Catalog. If no description is supplied, the description defaults to the name of the dashboard or saved request.

To view the description of a saved request

• Pause the cursor over the title of the saved request in the selection pane in Siebel Answers.

To view the description of a dashboard

• Pause the cursor over the name of the dashboard in Siebel Intelligence Dashboards.

  To view the description of a dashboard page, pause the cursor over the page tab.

Printing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard or Saved Request

Siebel Analytics allows you to display printer-friendly versions of existing dashboards and requests. A printer-friendly version does not contain any extraneous links or other hypertext items.

You can print using HTML or Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format). Adobe Reader 6.0 or greater is required to print using Adobe PDF.

NOTE:  The HTML method of printing relies on the print handling capabilities of your browser. If you do not get the results you want, choose PDF to open and then print the dashboard or request.

To print a dashboard or a request

1. Navigate to an existing dashboard or request.
2. Click the Print link, and then choose HTML or PDF.
   • For HTML, a new window shows the selected item without the extraneous links.

     Choose File > Print on the browser menu.

   • For PDF, an Adobe PDF window shows the selected item.

     Use the options available in the Adobe PDF window to save or print the file.

Emailing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard Page or Request

You can email a dashboard page or a request as a Web archive (.mht) file.

To email a dashboard page or request

1. Navigate to the dashboard page or request that you want to send.
2. Click the Printer Friendly link.

   A new browser window opens that contains the dashboard page or the request.

3. From the browser's toolbar, choose File > Save As.
4. Save the file to the desired location, with a file type of Web Archive, Single File (*.mht).
5. Send the saved .mht attachment using an email application.

NOTE:  The *.mht files can also be used as a means to archive and restore requests as they exist at a particular point in time.

Downloading Siebel Analytics Results

Siebel Analytics provides options for downloading results. These appear in Siebel Answers as options for the Download link. The Download link can also appear with a request in a dashboard.

• Download to Excel

  This option makes the request results available to Microsoft Excel in HTML format, including tables or charts that appear with the results. It also includes any other views included in the report. Excel controls the positioning of the HTML.

• Download Data

  This option downloads results as a tab-separated list of values. The file will have a .csv extension to facilitate opening it in Excel. After downloading a request in tab-delimited format, you can use a third-party application to display the data.

• Download Web Page (MHTML)

  This option downloads results as a Web page. This allows you to download the underlying data for an existing request as a Web page (MHTML) file.

To download results in Microsoft Excel format

1. Navigate to the request.
2. Click the Download link and choose Download to Excel.

   The File Download dialog box appears.

3. Save the file to the desired location, or open it in Excel.
4. If desired, use Excel to refine the formatted results.

   For information, see your Excel documentation.

To download results as a tab-separated list of values

1. Navigate to the request.
2. Click the Download link and choose Download Data, and then save the file on your hard drive.

To download results as a Web page

1. Navigate to the request.
2. Click the Download link and choose Download Web Page (MHTML).

   The File Download dialog box appears.

3. Save the file on your hard drive.

Refreshing a Siebel Intelligence Dashboard or Siebel Analytics Request

When executing a Siebel Intelligence Dashboard or a request, Siebel Analytics uses temporary storage areas, called caches, to save frequently accessed or recently accessed results. Storing certain results in cache helps to improve Siebel Analytics performance. You can use the Refresh feature to make sure that your request bypasses saved information in the Siebel Analytics Web cache and is issued to the Siebel Analytics Server for processing.

When you select a specific dashboard or request, Siebel Analytics Web checks its cache to determine if the identical results have recently been requested. If so, Siebel Analytics Web returns the most recent results, thereby avoiding unnecessary processing by the Siebel Analytics Server and the back-end database. If not, the request is issued to the Siebel Analytics Server for processing.

If the Siebel Analytics Server has cached results that can satisfy your request, the results are returned from that cache. If not, Siebel Analytics Server issues the request to the back-end database. You cannot force your request past the Siebel Analytics Server's cache.

Siebel Analytics Web administrators can configure cache settings for Siebel Analytics Web that control what is cached and for how long. For information, see Siebel Analytics Web Administration Guide. For information about the Siebel Analytics Server cache, see Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide.

To refresh a dashboard or request

1. Navigate to an existing dashboard or request.
2. Click the Refresh link.

Refreshing Information in the Siebel Analytics Selection Pane

The Siebel Analytics selection pane appears in Siebel Answers and Siebel Delivers. When changes have been made to saved content or to the Siebel Analytics Server metadata, you can refresh the display to see the most current information.

NOTE:  The information you see in the selection pane is determined by your permissions and responsibilities.

To refresh the information in the selection pane

• To refresh the information for saved requests, filters, briefing books, and dashboard content, click the Refresh Display link at the bottom of the selection pane.
• To refresh the view of the Siebel Analytics Server metadata for subject areas, click the link Reload Server Metadata at the bottom of the selection pane.