Preview Page

When you import data into XBRi, you can display a preview of the data on the Preview page, then select options to modify your data before it is imported. For example, XBRi automatically designates data columns in your file as attributes or metrics based on the values contained in each data column, with attributes displayed in blue and metrics displayed in orange. You can manually designate data columns as attributes or metrics before the data is published as an Intelligent Cube. You can:

Display a preview of the data before it is imported
Insert column headers into the data, if the file does not provide them
Select the sheet of data to import, if you are importing the data from an Excel workbook with more than one sheet
Designate columns of data as attributes or metrics
Map data columns to existing project attributes

Steps to perform these tasks are below. For background information about importing data and steps to import data, see About importing Data.

Prerequisites

You must have Adobe Flash Player to import data from a file. For specific version requirements, see the release notes for your version of XBRi.
You must have the Import Data and Import Database privileges.

To specify importing options using the Preview page

If you are importing data from an Excel workbook with more than one sheet of data, from the Sheet Name drop-down list, select the name of the sheet from which you want to import data

If you are importing data from a file, by default, XBRi assumes that your data is stored in a simple tabular layout. You can also choose to import data stored in a cross-tabbed layout. Select one of the following options:

To import data from a simple tabular layout, select Tabular. By default, XBRi identifies the first row of data to use as headers for the imported data columns. These column headers are then displayed as the names of the attributes and metrics you define. If the data in the imported file does not provide column headers for the data columns, you can insert and specify the column headers manually by doing the following:

1. Select the Insert new column headers check box. A default column header is automatically inserted for each data column.
2. To specify a name for a column header, hover the cursor over the column header and click the arrow icon in the top right. Select Rename, then type a name for the header in the field and press ENTER.

To import data from a cross-tabbed layout, select Cross-tabbed. A preview of your data is displayed, with cells of data that contain metric data, attribute data, and metric header names each displayed in separate colors. The legend in the top left lists the colors in which each type of data is displayed. Perform the following steps:

1. Click and drag the edges of the Metric Data area to highlight each cell that contains metric data.
2. Specify which cells contain metric header information by doing one of the following:
3. If no metric headers are contained in the file, select the No Metric Headers check box.
4. If metric headers are included in the file, clear the No Metric Headers check box. Click and drag the Metric Header Block area to highlight the cells that contain metric header data.

To display a preview of your data, click the Convert to Tabular Sample icon.

In Tabular format, you can select options to define a data column as an attribute or metric, choose not to import a column of data, rename data columns, and so on.

To select options for data columns

Hover the cursor over the header of the data column you want to select options for, then click the arrow icon at the right side of the row to display a menu. Select one of the following:

To define the data column as an attribute, point to Attribute.

If the column's data type is Date, Time, or DateTime, you can define your data in more specific detail by having XBRi automatically generate additional time-related information based on the contents of the data column. For example, if the column is assigned the Date data type, you can have XBRi automatically generate separate attributes for year and month information. Select the check box next to each attribute you want to have automatically generated, then click OK.

You can assign a geo role or shape key to the data column for easier data integration with map-based widgets or visualizations that require geographical information. Do one of the following:

To assign a geo role to the data column, select the geo role you want to assign, such as City, State, or Country. Select the check box next to each attribute you want to have automatically generated based on the data column, then click OK.
To assign a shape key to the data column, select Other, then select the shape key you want to assign, such as Countries of the World or States of USA. Click OK.
To define the data column without assigning it a geo role, select None, then click OK.

To define the data column as a metric, select Metric.
To avoid including the data column in the imported data, select Do Not Import.
To rename the data column, select Rename. Type a name in the field and press ENTER.
To map a data column to an attribute that already exists in the current project, select Map to Project. The Select Mapping Object panel is displayed. Note: This option is only available for data columns designated as attributes.

You must provide a data column to map to the ID attribute form of the existing attribute. This column must be the same data type as the ID attribute form. You can also map additional data columns to the attribute, by mapping each data column to a different attribute form.

Navigate to and select the attribute form you want to map. You can expand and collapse the list of attribute forms in an attribute by clicking the arrow icon next to the attribute.

Do one of the following:

To map the data column you selected to an attribute form, click the name of the attribute form to select it.

To map multiple data columns, drag the name of each attribute form you want to map onto the alias of the data column you want to map it to.
To unmap a data column, hover the cursor over its alias, then click the x icon. The data column is unmapped, and its alias is changed back to the alias applied to the data column before it was mapped.

Click OK to close the Select Mapping Object panel.

To unmap the data column from a project attribute, select Unmap from Project. This option is only available for data columns designated as attributes.

For more information on mapping data columns and how it affects grouping and selectors, see About mapping imported data to project attributes. If the data column is already mapped, you can map the data column to a different attribute form to replace the existing mapping. Perform the following steps:

To change the data type of the column, point to Data Type, then select the data type you want to use.

Repeat the appropriate steps above for each data column you want to define.

Refreshing the data

By default, if the data in an Intelligent Cube needs to be updated, it is re-executed. All the data for the Intelligent Cube is loaded from the data source into Intelligence Server's memory, and the existing data for the Intelligent Cube is overwritten. You can set up incremental refresh settings to update the Intelligent Cube with only new data when the Intelligent Cube is republished or updated according to a schedule. This can reduce the time and system resources necessary to update the Intelligent Cube periodically.

To refresh the data

Click the Data Refresh Options icon. The Options - Data Refresh dialog box opens. Select one of the following options to determine how your data will be updated when the Intelligent Cube is run:

- To re-execute the Intelligent Cube and overwrite any existing data, select Replace existing data.
- To update the existing data in the Intelligent Cube, as well as add new data that was not previously included in the Intelligent Cube, select Update existing data and add new data.
- To update the Intelligent Cube only with new data that was not previously included in the Intelligent Cube, select Keep existing data and add new data.

Click Publish. The Save Cube dialog box opens.
Browse to the location to publish the imported data to, then type a name and description for the published data in the Name and Description fields.\
Click OK. The data is saved as an Intelligent Cube.

Once you have saved your data, you can use it to create a report, document, or quick dashboard. To do so, select one of the following:

- To create a report, select Create Report. For steps to create a report that runs against your new Intelligent Cube data, see Creating a report that accesses an Intelligent Cube. For general steps to create a report, see Creating a report.
- To create a document, select Create Document. For general steps to create a document, see About creating documents.
- To create a quick dashboard, select Create Dashboard. For steps to create a quick dashboard, see Creating a Visual Insight quick dashboard.