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Performing Common Tasks in Siebel Analytics

This topic explains how to perform common tasks in Siebel Analytics:

Exiting from Siebel Analytics

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

To exit from Siebel Analytics

Printing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard or 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.

To print a dashboard or a request

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

    3. A new window shows the selected item without the extraneous links.

  3. On the browser menu, choose File > Print.

Emailing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard 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.

    3. 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 a Siebel Analytics Request

Siebel Analytics allows you to download the underlying data for an existing request as a Microsoft Excel file (.xls format), and as a comma-separated list of values (.csv format). In Siebel Answers, these download options appear as the links Download (Excel) and Download (CSV). These links can also appear with a request in a dashboard.

To download a request in Microsoft Excel format

  1. Navigate to the request.
  2. Click the Download (Excel) link.
  3. Save the .xls file to the desired location, or open it in Excel.

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

  4. If necessary, use Excel to refine the formatted results.

    5. For information, see your Excel documentation.

To download a request as a comma-separated list of values

  1. Navigate to the request.
  2. Click the Download (CSV) link, and save the file on your hard drive.

After downloading a request in .csv format, you can use a third-party application to display the data.

Refreshing a Siebel Analytics Dashboard or Request

Siebel Analytics uses a temporary storage area, called cache, to save frequently-accessed or recently-accessed results. Storing certain results in cache helps to speed up operations.

When you select a specific request or dashboard, Siebel Analytics first checks the cache to determine if the item has recently been requested. If it has, Siebel Analytics sends the most recent copy stored in the cache. You can use the Refresh feature to make sure that Siebel Analytics bypasses the saved information in the cache and regenerates the information you want.

To refresh a dashboard or request

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

Creating Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) Files

You can create documents in PDF format that include Siebel Analytics reports and dashboards by using a client-side plug-in, available from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

To create an Adobe PDF file

  1. Install the Adobe client-side plug-in and enable the Print to PDF function.
  2. Navigate to the report or dashboard that you want to save as a PDF file.
  3. Choose File > Print.
  4. Select the Adobe PDF printer driver from the list of printers and click Print.

 Siebel Analytics User Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003