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Analytics > Designing an Analysis > Step 2: Reviewing Results and Creating Layouts > Creating Selection Steps

Creating Selection Steps

Selection steps, together with groups and calculated items, allow you to limit, manipulate, or add to the results that are displayed in an analysis. Whereas filters are applied before a query is aggregated and therefore affect the query and the resulting values for measures, selection steps are applied after the query is aggregated and affect only the column values displayed and not the resulting aggregate values.

When you add a column to an analysis, a selection step is automatically created to start with all column values, unless you explicitly add specific values. Selection steps are also created automatically when you add columns to the analysis in the Results tab.

You can also create selection steps for an analysis in the Selection Steps pane of the Results tab. For the selection steps, you can define groups and calculated items, to group and define custom aggregations for selected column values of your choice.

NOTE: You can create selection steps for dimension columns only. You cannot create selection steps for measure columns.

If you enable certain right-click interactions for an analysis, then users who run the analysis can also define and apply their own selection steps to the analysis at runtime, by keeping, adding, or removing column values, and by adding custom calculated items or groups. For information about enabling right-click interactions, see Specifying Right-Click Interactions for Users.

The following procedure describes how to create selection steps in the Results tab of the analysis editor.

To create selection steps

1. In the Results tab of the analysis editor, if the Selection Steps pane is not visible, then click the Show Selection Steps pane icon in the toolbar.
2. If the Selection Steps pane is collapsed, then expand it.
3. In the steps for the column, click the Then, New Step link.
4. From the menu, select the option for the type of step that you want to create, and then specify the details in the dialog box that opens.

   TIP: If an appropriate group or calculated item has already been created and saved in the catalog, in a folder to which you have access, then you can select that group or calculated item for the step.

5. When you finish, click OK to close the dialog box.
6. To display the selection steps in the analysis, add a Selection Step view to the compound layout.

   For instructions on adding views, see Adding and Editing Views.

7. Save the analysis.