Contents

Title and Copyright Information

Send Us Your Comments

Preface

OracleAS Discoverer Navigation and Accessibility

Keyboard Navigation

Changing font sizes and colors for enhanced readability

Documentation Accessibility

Intended Audience

Structure

Related Documents

Conventions

Prerequisites to run Discoverer Plus

Part I Getting Started

1 Introducing Discoverer Plus

Introducing Discoverer Plus

What is Discoverer Plus?

What are the new features in Discoverer Plus Version 9.0.4?

Why should I use Discoverer?

What is different about Discoverer Plus?

What are business areas, folders, and items?

What are business areas

What are folders

What are items

Notes about business areas, folders, and items

Who is the Discoverer manager and what do they do?

About the tutorial workbook?

What are worksheets, workbooks, and queries?

What is a typical workflow with Discoverer?

Stage 1: Getting the data you want

Stage 2: Analyzing your data

Stage 3: Sharing your data with others

About the Discoverer Plus help system

2 Starting Discoverer

Starting Discoverer

What is a Discoverer connection?

About starting Discoverer

About starting Discoverer for the first time

How to start Discoverer using an existing connection

How to exit Discoverer

Frequently asked questions

What is the End User Layer (EUL)?

What are database accounts?

How do I create and save login information in a Discoverer connection

How do I edit a Discoverer connection?

How do I delete a Discoverer connection?

What are public connections?

What are user-defined connections?

When and why do I need to change my password?

How do I change the password for a connection?

How do I change the End User Layer for a Discoverer connection?

What is Single Sign-on?

What is the difference between Single Sign-on and Discoverer passwords?

3 About the Discoverer workarea

About the Discoverer workarea

About the Discoverer menu bar and toolbars

About the workbook window

About tool tips

What are axis items?

About data points

About the Workbook Wizard

About using the Workbook Wizard

4 Using workbooks and worksheets

Using workbooks and worksheets

What are workbooks?

What are worksheets?

About designing workbooks for maximum performance

How to open workbooks

How to open a scheduled workbook

How to edit workbooks

About saving workbooks to the database

How to save workbooks

About worksheet titles

How to create or edit a worksheet title

How to display or hide a worksheet title

How to rename workbooks and worksheets

How to re-order worksheets within a workbook

How to refresh worksheets

How to delete worksheets

How to delete workbooks from the database

About creating new workbooks

About icons in the Workbook Wizard

How to create new workbooks

How to add new worksheets to a workbook

How to view a workbook's properties

About opening workbooks in a non-Oracle database

5 Formatting worksheet data

Formatting worksheet data

About the four types of Discoverer worksheet

About table worksheets

About table worksheets with page detail

About crosstab worksheets

A note about crosstabs

About crosstab worksheets with page detail

About editing worksheets

How to edit worksheets

How to add items to worksheets

How to remove items from worksheets

How to duplicate a worksheet

How to change the format of worksheet data

How to change item headings

How to change the format of item headings

How to change the default worksheet format

6 Creating graphs in Discoverer

Creating graphs in Discoverer

What is a Discoverer graph?

About using graphs in Discoverer

More about worksheets and graphs

About saving Discoverer graphs

About setting font options

About components of a Discoverer graph

About graph types and sub-types

About graph types available in Discoverer

Notes about creating bubble graphs

Notes about creating high-low-close stock graphs

Notes about creating dual-Y charts

Notes about creating pie graphs

How to create a graph

How to edit a graph

How to change the position of a graph on screen

How to delete a graph

Part II Analyzing Data

7 Pivoting data

Pivoting data

About pivoting worksheet data

About pivoting data on a table worksheet

About pivoting data on a crosstab worksheet

How to pivot data on a table worksheet

How to pivot data on a crosstab worksheet

About unexpected results with pivoting

8 Using drilling

Using drilling

About drilling in Discoverer worksheets

When to drill

About drilling into numeric data

About drill options

How to drill down

How to drill up

How to drill out

Examples of drilling

9 Using parameters

Using parameters

What are parameters?

What are the benefits of using parameters?

About using parameters

About creating parameters

About using parameters to collect dynamic user input

How to set parameters

How to activate parameters

How to deactivate parameters

How to create parameters

How to edit parameters

How to delete parameters

Examples of parameters

10 Using conditions

Using conditions

What are conditions?

What are multiple conditions?

What are nested conditions?

About using conditions

About applying more than one condition

How to turn conditions on

How to turn conditions off

How to create single conditions

How to create multiple conditions

How to create nested conditions

How to edit conditions

How to delete conditions

Notes on how Discoverer applies conditions to roll-ups

Example of how Discoverer applies conditions to roll-ups

Examples of conditions

11 Using totals

Using totals

What are totals?

About totals on crosstab worksheets

About totals in worksheets

About SUM and Cell SUM

When to use SUM instead of Cell SUM

Example - using SUM to calculate the average sales per employee

When to use Cell SUM instead of SUM

Example - using Cell SUM to calculate an increase in sales

About migrating workbook totals to OracleAS Discoverer

How to display or hide totals

How to create totals

How to edit totals

How to delete totals

Examples of totals

12 Using percentages

Using percentages

What are percentages?

How to display or hide percentages

How to create percentages

How to edit percentages

How to delete percentages

Example of percentages

13 Sorting data

Sorting data

What is sorting?

About sorting on table worksheets

About sorting on crosstab worksheets

What is group sorting?

How to sort data on a table worksheet

How to sort data on a crosstab worksheet

How to change how worksheet data is sorted

How to remove sorting from a worksheet

Examples of sorting

14 Using calculations

Using calculations

What are calculations?

About using calculations

What are analytic functions?

What analytic function templates are available in Discoverer

How to display or hide worksheet calculations

How to create calculations

How to create a new calculation using an analytic function template

How to edit calculations

How to delete calculations

Examples of calculations

Part III Sharing results with others

15 Printing worksheets and graphs

Printing worksheets and graphs

About sharing Discoverer results with other users

About the Print Wizard

About printing worksheets and graphs

About printing worksheets that contain page items

About printing options and scaling

How to print Discoverer data

How to print Discoverer data to PDF files

16 Exporting data to other applications

Exporting data to other applications

About exporting Discoverer data to other applications

About exporting worksheets to Oracle Reports

About exporting worksheets to Microsoft Excel

About how worksheets and graphs are exported

About exporting worksheets that contain page items

About accessing exported files

How to export Discoverer data

17 Sharing workbooks

Sharing workbooks

About sharing workbooks

How to share a workbook with multiple Discoverer users

How to share multiple workbooks with a single Discoverer user

18 Publishing workbooks to OracleAS Portal

Publishing workbooks to OracleAS Portal

What is OracleAS Portal?

About OracleAS Portal

What you need to publish Discoverer content in OracleAS Portal

About publishing Discoverer content in OracleAS Portal

About portlet types available in Discoverer

About the List of database workbooks portlet

About the Worksheet portlet

About adding portlets

How to add a list of database workbooks portlet

How to add a worksheet portlet

How to edit a Discoverer portlet

Part IV Advanced Discoverer Plus features

19 Advanced Discoverer Plus Features

Advanced Discoverer Plus features

Using scheduled workbooks

What are scheduled workbooks?

When do I need to use scheduled workbooks?

About scheduled workbooks

About accessing scheduled workbook results

About how scheduled workbooks are processed?

How to schedule the currently opened workbook

How to schedule unopened workbooks

How to change the properties of a scheduled workbook

How to copy a scheduled workbook

How to unschedule a workbook

How to delete scheduled workbook results

Using lists of values (LOVs)

What are LOVs?

LOV examples

A LOV used to specify worksheet parameters

A LOV used in a condition

A LOV used in the Discoverer item navigator

About using long LOVs

How to select single values from long LOVs

How to select multiple values from long LOVs

Changing default settings

About default settings

How to change default settings

How to revert to the default format settings

Notes on setting Advanced options

About automatic querying

About fan traps

About multiple join paths

Using SQL

What is SQL

Why should I be interested in SQL?

What are summaries?

What are summary folders

What is an execution plan?

About the Discoverer execution plan

About viewing the SQL and execution plan with an Oracle 8 and later database

How to view SQL

How to view a SQL execution plan

SQL Examples

Looking at an execution plan when using an Oracle 8 and later database

Part V  Discoverer Plus Reference

20 Reference dialogs

Reference dialogs

Band by Rank dialog

Band by Value dialog

Choose a responsibility dialog

Data Format dialog

Delete Scheduled Workbook Results dialog

Delete Workbooks from Database dialog

Difference dialog

Edit Calculation dialog

Edit Condition dialog

Edit Heading dialog

Edit Parameter dialog

Edit Parameter Values dialog

Edit Percentage dialog

Edit Scheduled Workbook dialog

Edit Scheduled Workbook dialog: General tab

Edit Scheduled Workbook dialog: Parameter values tab

Edit Scheduled Workbook dialog: Schedule tab

Edit Title dialog

Edit Total dialog

Edit Worksheet dialog

Edit Worksheet dialog: Crosstab layout tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Calculations tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Conditions tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Format tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Parameters tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Percentages tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Select Items tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Sort tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Table Layout tab

Edit Worksheet dialog: Totals tab

Export Wizard dialog: Define File Details tab

Export Wizard dialog: Define Graph tab

Export Wizard dialog: Log tab

Export Wizard dialog: Edit Parameter Values tab

Export Wizard dialog: Select Objects tab

Export Wizard dialog: Supervise tab

Find dialog (in Item Navigator)

Following Value dialog

Format Data dialog

Format Data dialog: Date tab

Format Data dialog: Format tab

Format Data dialog: Number tab

Format Data dialog: Text tab

Format heading dialog

Graph Wizard dialog: Font dialog tab

Graph Wizard dialog: Titles, Totals, and Series tab

Graph Wizard dialog: Graph Type tab

Graph Wizard dialog: Legend tab

Graph Wizard dialog: Pie Chart Options tab (column)

Graph Wizard dialog: Pie Chart Options tab (row)

Graph Wizard dialog: Plot Area tab

Graph Wizard dialog: X-Axis tab

Graph Wizard dialog: Y-Axis tab

Graph Wizard dialog: Y2-Axis tab

Group Total dialog

Heading Format dialog

Join folders dialog

Move Worksheets dialog

Moving Total dialog

New Calculation dialog

New Condition dialog

New Parameter dialog

New Percentage dialog

New Scheduled Workbook Results dialog

New Total dialog

Open Scheduled Workbook dialog

Open Workbook from Database dialog

Open Workbook dialog

Options dialog: Advanced tab

Options dialog: Aggregation tab

Field level descriptions

What are aggregated values in Discoverer?

What are linear and non-linear calculations?

Examples of worksheet aggregation in Discoverer

Notes on sharing worksheets between Discoverer Desktop and
Discoverer Plus/Viewer users

About sharing a Discoverer worksheet between Discoverer Plus users

About sharing a Discoverer worksheet between Discoverer Plus and
Discoverer Desktop users

Options dialog: Default Formats tab

Options dialog: EUL tab

Options dialog: General tab

Options dialog: Sheet Format tabs

Options dialog: Query Governor tab

Options dialog: Sheet Format tab (on a crosstab worksheet)

Options dialog: Sheet Format tab (on a table worksheet)

Percent Contribution dialog

Percent Difference dialog

Percent Rank dialog

Percent Running Contribution dialog

Preceding Value dialog

Print Wizard dialog: Define Graph tab

Print Wizard dialog: Select Objects tab

Print Wizard dialog: Edit Parameter Values tab

Print Wizard dialog: Supervise tab

Rank dialog

Reference Lines dialog

Rename Worksheet dialog

Running Total dialog

Save Workbook to Database dialog

Schedule Wizard dialog

Scheduling Manager dialog

Schedule Wizard dialog: General tab

Schedule Wizard dialog: Parameter Values tab

Schedule Wizard dialog: Schedule tab

Select Condition dialog

Select Item dialog

Select item to drill dialog

Select Parameter dialog

Select Value dialog

Select Values dialog

Select Workbook from Database dialog (to schedule)

Share Workbook dialog: User -> Workbook tab

Share Workbook dialog: Workbook -> User tab

Show Condition dialog

Sort Crosstab dialog

Total Format dialog

Workbook Wizard: Create/Open Workbook dialog

Workbook Properties dialog

Workbook Wizard: Create Workbook dialog

A Discoverer calculation examples

Discoverer calculation examples

About getting more information

About the examples in this chapter

How do I create calculations?

About using parameters to provide dynamic input to calculations

Simple calculation examples

Example: Calculate the number of rows returned by a query

Example: Calculate a 25% increase in sales

Example: Convert text to upper-case

Oracle8i analytic function examples

About analytic function categories

About analytic functions and drilling into and out of data

About creating analytic functions

Ranking function examples

About ranking

Example: Assign ranks to sales figures

Example: Assign ranks to sales figures within region

Example: Show the top three selling cities per region

Example: Show the top three and bottom three selling cities per region

Banding function examples

About banding

Example: Banding by value (1)

Example: Banding by value (2)

Example: Banding by rank

Windowing function examples

About windowing

Example: Calculate a three month moving sales average

Example: Show the cumulative values of sales

Example: Compare sales figures across time using windowing

Reporting function examples

About reporting functions

Example: Calculate annual sales

Example: Calculate annual sales by region

Example: Calculate percentage of annual sales by region

Example: Calculate city sales as a percentage of total sales

LAG/LEAD function examples

About LAG/LEAD functions

Example: Compare sales figures across time using LAG/LEAD

Example: Calculate sales growth across time

Example: Rank sales growth

Statistical function examples

About statistics functions

Example: Calculate linear regression

More about analytic functions expressions

About analytic functions and sequencing

Examples of sequencing

Example one

Example two

Oracle9i analytic function examples

About getting more information

About inverse percentile examples

About differences between PERCENTILE_CONT and PERCENTILE_DISC

Example: Compute the median profit using the PERCENTILE_DISC function

Example: Compute the median profit using the PERCENTILE_CONT function

Hypothetical rank and distribution examples

Example: Calculate hypothetical rank

Banding example

Example: Producing equi-width bands using WIDTH_BUCKET

FIRST/LAST aggregate examples

Example: Find the largest sales transactions in area with most sales trans'

Example: Find the average sales transaction in area with least sales trans'

Examples of using row-based and time-based intervals

Example: Creating a Difference calculation using a row-based interval

Example: Creating a Difference calculation using a time-based interval

Example: Creating a Preceding value calculation using a time-based interval

B Discoverer support for Oracle Applications

Discoverer support for Oracle Applications

What are Oracle Applications?

What features does Discoverer support for Oracle Applications users?

What are the prerequisites to run Discoverer with Oracle Applications?

How to start Discoverer in Oracle Applications mode using an existing connection

How to create a new connection to start Discoverer as an Oracle Applications user

Glossary

Index