Understanding Matrix Layouts
Typically, the PeopleSoft data you report on is in one or more large tables with lots of details—usually ledgers. Using a PS/nVision matrix layout, you can fashion that raw data into a summarized form.
Matrix layouts have data selection criteria associated with columns and rows in the spreadsheet, creating a criteria matrix. The data retrieved for an individual cell is determined by combining the criteria for its column and row.
Example
To illustrate a matrix layout, assume that a table in the database appears as the following table.
|
Office |
Product |
Sales |
|---|---|---|
|
CHICAGO |
PAPER |
1,000 |
|
BOSTON |
SODA |
2,000 |
|
BOSTON |
BOXES |
1,200 |
|
TORONTO |
PAPER |
1,500 |
|
VANCOUVER |
BOXES |
5,000 |
|
COPENHAGEN |
PAPER |
2,000 |
|
PARIS |
SODA |
1,200 |
|
TOKYO |
PAPER |
4,000 |
|
SINGAPORE |
SODA |
1,000 |
|
SINGAPORE |
PAPER |
2,000 |
A table like this one could become very large in a typical business—too large to tell the manager of sales how the enterprise is doing. From this very large and detailed table, PS/nVision can build a report that summarizes sales by region and product category, with the option to break these down into offices and individual products.
Assuming that the company defines a tree that groups offices into a hierarchy of sales districts, countries, and international regions, we could use that tree to define rows of a PS/nVision report, with one row for each region. Similarly, we could use a tree of products to put different types of products—office supplies, consumer products, and so on—into separate columns.
The following table shows how the summarized report is displayed.
|
Region |
Beverages |
Office Supplies |
|---|---|---|
|
Asia-Pacific |
1,000 |
6,000 |
|
North America |
2,000 |
8,700 |
|
Western Europe |
1,200 |
2,000 |
|
Field or Control |
Definition |
|---|---|
| Navigate buttons |
Use these buttons in the PeopleSoft nVision Layout Definition dialog box to select a row, column, or cell. |
| Retain Contents |
If you clicked the Apply button in the Layout Definition dialog box and you want to reuse all or part of the criteria you just applied, select this option. It preserves all the dialog box information when you navigate to a new cell selection. |