Defining Global Filters

Global filters are used to control the display of one or more reports in a single portal page or in a dashboard. For example, a global filter can be on a report that contains only a prompt or prompt controls. This allows for a single selection to drive a number of reports at once. When a prompt answer is changed, all related reports refresh dynamically to show the data that answers the prompt. For example, if you answer a prompt for a country with Brazil, all related reports on the page are filtered to show the data for Brazil. When this is used in a dashboard, the context is passed to all corresponding tabs.

Perform the following tasks to set up a page or a dashboard with global filters:

Preparing the Reports

Before you start creating a page or a dashboard with global filters, you must know which reports you can use, and have the reports ready. The reports can be authored in Report Studio or Query Studio.

If you include reports from only one package, the global filters share parameters using the model item. If you include reports from different packages, the following conditions must be met:

Create the Global Filters

A global filter is a value that is shared across different reports. At least one of the reports that you are using for the dashboard needs to contain a prompt or prompt control. The prompted report is embedded into a page or a dashboard using the Report Viewer portlet and linked with other reports in the page using the global filter portlet properties. The prompts that are used as global filters control the display of your chosen linked reports. If this functionality is implemented in a single page, the prompts control linked reports in different sections of the page. If the page is a dashboard with multiple tabs, the prompts can control the report filtering across tabs.

We recommend creating prompt reports in Report Studio. The rich editing environment of this studio gives the author access to a variety of prompt controls, such as the Next, Reprompt, or Finish buttons. These controls add more interactivity to portal pages.

For more information about building prompts and prompt pages, see the Report Studio Professional Authoring User Guide.

Using Metrics as Global Filters

You can use metrics and strategy elements in Metrics portlets as global filters. In a page, or in a dashboard with multiple tabs, the Metric List, Metrics Impact Diagram, and Metrics Custom Diagram portlets can filter prompted parameters for the Report Viewer portlet. You must configure Report Viewer to show a report associated with a metric or a strategy element, and set up communication between the portlets using the same channel name.

When a user clicks a metric name in Metric List, Metrics Impact Diagram, or Metrics Custom Diagram, Report Viewer dynamically updates the report if the report prompt parameters are based on metric values. When a user clicks a strategy element in Metrics Custom Diagram, Report Viewer dynamically updates the report if the report prompt parameters are based on strategy element values.

For this functionality to work, the following parameters that are broadcast on a channel after a click action in a Metrics portlet must match the names of the report prompt parameters:

Steps to Create a Prompted Report

  1. In Report Studio, create a prompt on a report page, not on a prompt page, of the report.

    Set the Auto-Submit property for the prompt to yes.

    If you want to use cascading prompts, only the last prompt in the sequence needs to be on the report page.

    For some prompts, such as the value prompts, you may need to add a Finish button to signal that the prompt selection is complete. For cascading prompts, the Reprompt button is also required to restart the prompting sequence.

  2. Add other details, such as background images, instructions, or a title.

    The prompt can now be added to a portal page or a dashboard.

Assemble the Reports on a Page

The prompts and the target reports in a page or a dashboard create an interactive and easy way to access BI environment.

Each report is displayed using the Report Viewer portlet. The reports communicate with each other using the properties of this portlet.

If your page includes reports from different packages, ensure that the prompt reports use the same parameter names as the target reports.

Use the following steps when defining global filters in a single page. If you want to implement this functionality in a dashboard, you must complete additional steps. For more information, see Create a Dashboard with Multiple Tabs.

  1. In Reporting Center, click the new page button.

  2. Type the name, and select a location for your page.

  3. Click Next.

  4. In the Set columns and layout page, set the number and width of columns.

    For example, the reports that display the prompts and prompt controls can be placed in one column, and the target reports in a separate column to the right.

  5. Click Add at the bottom of the first column.

  6. In the Available Entries box, click Content.

  7. Select the Report Viewer portlet, click the right arrow button to move the portlet to the Selected Entries box, and click OK.

  8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for each column.

    You must add the Report Viewer portlet for each report that you want to include in the column. For example, if the column on the left will contain a prompt and prompt controls, add two Report Viewer portlets.

  9. Click Next.

  10. Complete the remaining steps in the wizard, if needed, and click Finish.

    For more information, see the steps in the section Create a Page.

  11. Go to the folder where you saved the new page, and open it.

    In the page columns, you can see the empty frames of the Report Viewer portlets.

  12. For any portlet in the page, click the edit button in the portlet toolbar.

  13. In the portlet properties page, click Select an entry to select the report you want to display in the portlet.

  14. Click Edit Properties.

    The Advanced Properties Editor appears.

  15. For the Fragment Action property, specify the default portlet action when the portlet is invoked in a page.

    You can choose to show the run icon, run the report, or view the most recent saved output.

    Note: For more information about the portlet properties, click the Help button in the portlet.

  16. For the Prompt the user property, specify how to execute the prompts.

  17. For the Prompt values property, select the Communicate with other portlets check box.

    This property enables communication between this portlet and other portlets in the page that have this property set up.

    • When you select Every time, if the report contains optional or required prompts, the user is prompted to enter the prompt values before the report is run.

    • When you select Only when required parameter values are missing, the user is prompted if the report contains required prompts and the values are missing. Otherwise the report runs successfully.

    • When you select Never and show the report only when required values are provided, Report Viewer attempts to run the report, but the page remains hidden until the required prompt values are provided.

    • When you select Based on the prompt settings of the report, Report Viewer uses the prompts specified in the report.

  18. If you want to set up communication between only specific portlets in the page, type the channel name in the box provided.

    Only the portlets that share the same channel name can interact. By specifying the channel name, you have more control over the page. For example, you can link only the reports that have matching parameters.

  19. If you want to see the portlet toolbar in the page, for the Show Toolbar property, select the Normal mode and Maximized mode check boxes.

  20. Click OK to close Advanced Properties Editor, and click OK again to close the general properties page.

  21. Repeat steps 12 to 20 for each portlet in the page.

 
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