DYNDASH 901 Jan11 CG

MICROSTRATEGY REPORT SERVICES: DYNAMIC DASHBOARDS
Course Guide
Version: DYNDASH-901-Jan11
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Patent Information
This product is patented. One or more of the following patents may apply to the product sold herein: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,154,766, 6,173,310, 6,260,050, 6,263,051, 6,269,393, 6,279,033, 6,501,832, 6,567,796, 6,587,547, 6,606,596, 6,658,093, 6,658,432, 6,662,195, 6,671,715, 6,691,100, 6,694,316, 6,697,808, 6,704,723, 6,707,889, 6,741,980, 6,765,997, 6,768,788, 6,772,137, 6,788,768, 6,792,086, 6,798,867, 6,801,910, 6,820,073, 6,829,334, 6,836,537, 6,850,603, 6,859,798, 6,873,693, 6,885,734, 6,888,929, 6,895,084, 6,940,953, 6,964,012, 6,977,992, 6,996,568, 6,996,569, 7,003,512, 7,010,518, 7,016,480, 7,020,251, 7,039,165, 7,082,422, 7,113,993, 7,181,417, 7,127,403, 7,174,349, 7,194,457, 7,197,461, 7,228,303, 7,260,577, 7,266,181, 7,272,212, 7,302,639, 7,324,942, 7,330,847, 7,340,040, 7,356,758, 7,356,840, 7,415,438, 7,428,302, 7,430,562, 7,440,898, 7,457,397, 7,486,780, 7,509,671, 7,516,181, 7,559,048, 7,574,376, 7,617,201 and 7,725,811. Other patent applications are pending.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface Course Description.................................................................... 11 Who Should Take this Course ............................................... 12 Course Prerequisites ............................................................. 12 Follow-Up Courses ................................................................ 12 Related Certifications............................................................. 12 Course Objectives ................................................................. 13 About the Course Materials ......................................................... 14 Content Descriptions ............................................................. 14 Learning Objectives ............................................................... 14 Lessons ................................................................................. 15 Opportunities for Practice ...................................................... 15 Typographical Standards ....................................................... 15 Other MicroStrategy Courses ...................................................... 18 Core Courses......................................................................... 18
1. Introduction to Dashboards
Lesson Description ................................................................... 19 Lesson Objectives ................................................................. 20 What is a Dashboard? ................................................................. 21 What Is a Dashboard? ........................................................... 21 MicroStrategys Dashboard Classifications............................ 24 Interacting with a Dynamic Visualization Dashboard................... 30 Best Practices in Dashboard Design ........................................... 36 General Design Recommendations ....................................... 36 Design Recommendations for Color in Dashboards.............. 42 Exercise: What Is Wrong with This Dashboard? ......................... 46 Lesson Summary......................................................................... 47
2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.
Table Of Contents
MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards
Exercise Answers ........................................................................ 49
2. Creating Dynamic Dashboards
Lesson Description ................................................................... 51 Lesson Objectives ................................................................. 52 Dashboard Templates ................................................................. 53 Document Display Modes............................................................ 56 Interactive Mode .................................................................... 58 Flash Mode ............................................................................ 58 Full Screen Mode................................................................... 59 Dynamic Dashboard Layering ..................................................... 63 Panels and Panel Stacks ....................................................... 63 Characteristics of Panels and Panel Stacks .......................... 68 Inserting and Defining Panel Stacks ...................................... 70 Formatting Panels and Panel Stacks..................................... 76 Selectors...................................................................................... 79 What Is a Selector? ............................................................... 79 Switching Panels in a Panel Stack......................................... 80 Selecting Attribute Elements in a Graph ................................ 84 Selecting Metrics in a Grid ..................................................... 87 Selecting Attribute Elements in a Dynamic Text Box............. 90 Selector Styles ....................................................................... 91 Alternative Methods for Inserting Selectors ........................... 94 Selector Defaults ................................................................... 96 Automatically Maintaining Targets for Selectors.................. 104 Selectors as Filters .............................................................. 112 Formatting Selectors............................................................ 116 Analytic-Based Selectors ..................................................... 118 Grouping and Selectors ............................................................. 121 Exercises ................................................................................... 123 Layering Grids in a Panel Stack........................................... 123 Selectors .............................................................................. 132 Analytic-Based Selector....................................................... 142 Lesson Summary....................................................................... 147
3. Flash Mode and Widgets
Lesson Description ................................................................. 149 Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 150 DHTML Versus Flash ................................................................ 151 DHTML Benefits .................................................................. 151 Flash Benefits ...................................................................... 152 Characteristics of Documents in Flash Mode ...................... 154
Table Of Contents
Advanced Visualizations............................................................ 158 Single-Value Widgets .......................................................... 158 Inserting Widgets ................................................................. 161 Time Series Slider................................................................ 163 Interactive Stacked Graph ................................................... 165 Heat Map ............................................................................. 167 Interactive Bubble Graph ..................................................... 173 Widget Rendering in PDF and Microsoft Excel.................... 176 Flash-Specific Formatting .......................................................... 178 Formatting Widgets.............................................................. 178 Rounded Corners ................................................................ 179 Transition Animations .......................................................... 181 Selector-Specific Flash Formatting ...................................... 182 Exercises ................................................................................... 184 Time Series Slider Widget ................................................... 184 Heat Map Widget ................................................................. 189 Interactive Bubble Graph ..................................................... 196 Optional Exercise: Flash Formatting Properties .................. 202 Lesson Summary....................................................................... 204
4. Designing Multipanel Dashboards
Lesson Description ................................................................. 207 Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 208 The Multipanel Dashboard......................................................... 209 Consult Your Target Audience............................................. 209 Gather Related Datasets ..................................................... 210 Devise the Investigative Workflow of the Dashboard........... 211 Build the Dashboard ............................................................ 211 Exercise ..................................................................................... 213 Multipanel Flash Dashboard ................................................ 213 Observations........................................................................ 239 Lesson Summary....................................................................... 240
5. Graphs in Documents
Lesson Description ................................................................. 241 Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 242 Design Recommendations for Graphs....................................... 243 Best Uses for Graph Types ....................................................... 245 Component Comparisons .................................................... 246 Item Comparisons................................................................ 248 Time Series Comparisons.................................................... 250 Frequency Distribution Comparisons................................... 252
Table Of Contents
Correlation Comparisons ..................................................... 253 Summary ............................................................................. 254 Graph Formatting....................................................................... 255 Transparency Effect............................................................. 256 Curved Lines........................................................................ 258 Bevel Effects ........................................................................ 260 Data Tooltips on Graphs ...................................................... 262 Quick Switch and Portal Window ......................................... 264 Additional Formatting Features............................................ 265 Exercise ..................................................................................... 271 Graphs in a Dashboard........................................................ 271 Lesson Summary....................................................................... 282
6. Widgets II
Lesson Description ................................................................. 285 Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 286 Widgets as Selectors ................................................................. 287 Using a Time Series Slider Widget as a Selector ................ 288 Using an Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as a Selector .. 292 Bubble Grid Widget.................................................................... 296 Data Requirements for the Bubble Grid Widget................... 298 Formatting a Bubble Grid Widget......................................... 299 Data Cloud Widget..................................................................... 300 Data Requirements for the Data Cloud Widget.................... 301 Formatting a Data Cloud Widget.......................................... 302 Graph Matrix Widget.................................................................. 303 Data Requirements for the Graph Matrix Widget................. 306 Formatting the Graph Matrix Widget.................................... 307 Microcharts Widget .................................................................... 309 Data Requirements for Bar, Sparkline, and Bullet Charts.... 312 Formatting the Microcharts Widget ...................................... 318 Operation Modes for the Microcharts Widget ...................... 320 Media Widget............................................................................. 329 Requirements for the Media Widget .................................... 331 Creating the Media Widget .................................................. 332 Viewing Media Related to a Specific Attribute, Document, or Dataset ................................................................................ 335 Waterfall Widget ........................................................................ 339 Data Requirements for the Waterfall Widget ....................... 340 Formatting the Waterfall Widget .......................................... 343 Fish Eye Selector Widget .......................................................... 345
Table Of Contents
Methods for Creating a Fish Eye Selector Widget ............... 346 Formatting a Fish Eye Selector............................................ 349 Date Selection Widget ............................................................... 351 Formatting a Date Selection Selector Widget ...................... 352 Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode............................................. 354 Exercises ................................................................................... 356 Widgets As Selectors........................................................... 356 Graph Matrix Widget ............................................................ 363 Microcharts Widget .............................................................. 366 Media Widget ....................................................................... 371 Fish Eye and Date Selection Selector Widgets ................... 374 Exercise Answers ...................................................................... 377 Lesson Summary....................................................................... 380
7. Document Performance Considerations
Lesson Description ................................................................. 383 Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 384 Document Execution Flow ......................................................... 385 Execution Flow .................................................................... 386 Document Files for DHTML and Flash Formats .................. 389 Document Performance Optimizations ...................................... 392 Dataset Performance Considerations .................................. 392 Document Preparation Considerations ................................ 393 Document Structure Considerations .................................... 395 Document Output Considerations........................................ 412 Customer Case Studies............................................................. 415 Customer Case Study 1: Too Many Datasets and Grids ..... 415 Customer Case Study 2: Too Much Data ............................ 417 Troubleshooting Document Performance .................................. 419 Troubleshooting ................................................................... 419 Best Practices Summary...................................................... 420 Lesson Summary....................................................................... 422
A. Works Cited
Works Cited ............................................................................... 426
B. Whats New in MicroStrategy Web .................................................................... 428 MicroStrategy 9.0.2 for Understanding the New Express Mode ............................... 428 Document Developers Exporting Flash Files as PDF or MHT ................................. 429 Understanding the New Flash Grid Interactivity................... 430 Understanding the New Features Added to Selectors......... 432
Table Of Contents
Linking from Widgets ........................................................... 437 Understanding Enhancements to the Microchart Widget..... 437 Distribution Services .................................................................. 439 Sending Flash Documents................................................... 439
Index ......................................................................................... 441
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PREFACE
Course Description
This 2-day course provides an in-depth study of how to create Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards using MicroStrategy Report Services in MicroStrategy Web. This course builds on the basic document creation concepts that are covered in the 2-day MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials course. In this course, you will learn several dashboard design best practices. You will also learn how to use dynamic enterprise dashboard features, such as panel stacks, selectors, and dashboard templates. Additionally, you will learn several graph formatting features as well as best uses for certain graph types. The course covers Flash-specific features, such as widgets, transitions, and Flash-specific formatting options. It also covers document performance topics.
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Preface
Who Should Take this Course

This course is designed for: Document developers
Course Prerequisites
Before starting this course, you should know all topics covered in the following courses: MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials
Follow-Up Courses
After taking this course, you might consider taking the following course: MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting
Related Certifications
To validate your proficiency in the content of this course, you might consider taking the following certification: Certified Document Developer
12 Who Should Take this Course
Preface
Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to: Explain what a dashboard is, describe various dashboard characteristics, explain how MicroStrategy classifies dashboards, and list several best practices for dashboard design. (Page 20) Use dashboard-optimized templates to quickly create a dashboard, view your dashboards in the MicroStrategy Web display modes, and use panels, panel stacks, and selectors to design a multilayered dashboard. (Page 52) Understand the characteristics of documents that you display in Flash Mode and include advanced visualizations in these documents. (Page 150) Understand the process of creating a multipanel, interactive dashboard. (Page 208) Describe the best graph types for different types of reports and apply graph formatting features to graphs in documents. (Page 242) Use widgets as selectors and include additional widgets in your dynamic enterprise dashboards. (Page 286) Explain how documents with DHTML and Flash output formats run in MicroStrategy Web and understand how to optimize them for better performance. (Page 384)
Course Objectives
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Preface
About the Course Materials

This course is organized into lessons and reference appendices. Each lesson focuses on major concepts and skills that help you to better understand MicroStrategy products and use them to implement MicroStrategy projects. The appendices provide you with supplemental information to enhance your knowledge of MicroStrategy products.
Content Descriptions
Each major section of this course begins with a Description heading. The Description introduces you to the content contained in that section.
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives enable you to focus on the key knowledge and skills you should obtain by successfully completing this course. Objectives are provided for you at the following three levels: CourseYou will achieve these overall objectives by successfully completing all the lessons in this course. The Course Objectives heading in this Preface contains the list of course objectives. LessonYou will achieve these main objectives by successfully completing all the topics in the lesson. You can find the primary lesson objectives directly under the Lesson Objectives heading at the beginning of each lesson. Main TopicYou will achieve this secondary objective by successfully completing the main topic. The topic objective is stated at the beginning of the topic text. You can find a list of all the topic objectives in each lesson under the Lesson Objectives heading at the beginning of each lesson.
14 About the Course Materials
Preface
Lessons
Each lesson sequentially presents concepts and guides you with step-by-step procedures. Illustrations, screen examples, bulleted text, notes, and definition tables help you to achieve the learning objectives.
Opportunities for Practice

A Workshop is a reinforcement and assessment activity that follows two or more lessons. Because a Workshop covers content and applied skills presented in several lessons, it is a separate section on the level of a lesson. The following sections within lessons provide you with opportunities to reinforce important concepts, practice new product and project skills, and monitor your own progress in achieving the lesson and course objectives: Review Case Study Business Scenario Exercises
Typographical Standards
The following sections explain the font style changes, icons, and different types of notes that you see in this course.
Actions
References to screen elements and keys that are the focus of actions are in bold Arial font style. The following example shows this style: Click Select Warehouse.
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Preface
Code
References to code, formulas, or calculations within paragraphs are formatted in regular Courier.New font style. The following example shows this style: Sum(sales)/number of months
Data Entry
References to literal data you must type in an exercise or procedure are in bold Arial typeface. References to data you type in that could vary from user to user or system to system is in bold italic Arial font style. The following example shows this style: Type copy c:\filename d:\foldername\filename.
Keyboard Keys
References to a keyboard key or shortcut keys are in uppercase letters in bold Arial font style. The following example shows this style: Press CTRL+B.
New Terms
New terms to note are in regular italic font style. These terms are defined when they are first encountered in the course material. The following example shows this style: The aggregation level is the level of calculation for the metric.
Notes and Warnings
A note icon indicates helpful information.

16 About the Course Materials
Preface
A warning icon calls your attention to very important information that you should read before continuing
the course.
Heading Icons
The following heading icons are used to indicate specific practice and review sections:
Precedes a Review section
Precedes a Case Study
Precedes a Business Scenario
Precedes Exercises
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Preface
Other MicroStrategy Courses

Core Courses
Implementing MicroStrategy: Development and Deployment MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards MicroStrategy Web for Professionals MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts
All courses are subject to change. Please visit the MicroStrategy Web site for the latest education offerings.
18 Other MicroStrategy Courses
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INTRODUCTION TO DASHBOARDS
Lesson Description
This lesson provides an overview of the basic concepts related to dashboards. You will learn the definition of a dashboard and its characteristics. You will also learn MicroStrategys classifications for dashboards. Lastly, you will study some of the best practices for dashboard design, as recommended by visual design experts.
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Introduction to Dashboards
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Explain what a dashboard is, describe various dashboard characteristics, explain how MicroStrategy classifies dashboards, and list several best practices for dashboard design.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Define dashboard, list dashboard characteristics, and understand how MicroStrategy classifies different types of dashboards. (Page 21) Describe the many ways you can interact with a dynamic visualization dashboard. (Page 30) Describe various best practices for dashboard design. (Page 36)
20 Lesson Objectives
What is a Dashboard?
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Define dashboard, list dashboard characteristics, and understand how MicroStrategy classifies different types of dashboards.
One of the greatest challenges most report designers face is selecting the appropriate data for their target audience and displaying it in the most easy-to-read, digestible format. Dashboards attempt to address this challenge.
What Is a Dashboard?
A dashboard strives to make data consumable for everyone. With its focus on graphical representation and at-a-glance viewing, any type of business user can benefit from retrieving information through a dashboard. By appealing to a broad range of users, dashboards help increase user adoption of a corporate standard reporting environment. Another major benefit that dashboards provide is enterprise-wide transparency. Because you can create a dashboard using data from multiple sources, dashboards offer a unified view of the business to users from different areas within the business. In this way, dashboards also help to align organizations to identify and strive to meet common goals. As you learned in the MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials course, dashboards are highly visual representations of enterprise performance data that integrate a potentially wide variety of data elements into a single graphical display. Dashboards make use of tables, graphs, gauges, dials, and other graphical indicators; conditional formatting; text labels; and borders and background colors. They appeal to technical and non-technical users alike with their easy-to-read.
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Dashboards have the following key characteristics: Emphasis on graphicsA well-designed graphical representation can often communicate more effectively than text alone. Emphasis on key performance indicators (KPIs) Dashboards highlight metrics, as well as other important data, that help business users make informed decisions. Use of a single screenUsers digest data more efficiently when it is all displayed on a single screen. Emphasis on summary-level data and exception reportingMost dashboards, regardless of their target audience, focus on providing summary-level data and often highlight data that meets certain exceptions. Emphasis on customizationTypically, the most effective dashboards are the ones that target a specific audience and display the types of visual indicators that appeal to the target audience. Because dynamic enterprise dashboards are interactive, users can further customize the dashboard to suit their personal analysis needs and preferences.
What Is a Scorecard?
The term scorecard is often used interchangeably with dashboard. From MicroStrategys perspective, a scorecard is yet another type of document you can create with Report Services that focuses on KPIs. Like dashboards, scorecards also use many graphical indicators to show trends, actuals against targets, or changes in scores. Unlike dashboards, scorecards typically adhere to one of the major scorecard methodologies, such as Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard.
22 What is a Dashboard?
The scorecard displayed below follows the Balanced Scorecard methodology, displaying KPIs across four main business perspectivesFinancial, Customer, Internal Process, and Learning. It also displays a strategy map that demonstrates the interdependencies of the objectives for each business area:
Balanced Scorecard Example
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MicroStrategys Dashboard Classifications

MicroStrategy classifies dashboards into four main categories.
Performance Summary Dashboards

These dashboards provide at-a-glance, high-level views of business. Performance summary dashboards present several interrelated sets of data in tables and graphs on a single screen.These dashboards target business executives, high-level managers, or anyone who needs to see the companys performance in a summary view. The following image shows an example of a performance summary dashboard:
Performance Summary Dashboard
To view this dashboard, log in to the MicroStrategy Tutorial project in MicroStrategy Web. Run the
Enterprise Performance Management Dashboard in the Shared Reports\Enterprise Reporting Documents folder.
Metrics Dashboards
These dashboards focus on key metrics and their status as compared to the companys goals. They often emphasize exception reporting by using graphical indicators to show where metrics exceed, meet, or fall below their targets. Metrics dashboards often cater to business analysts or operational managers. The image below shows an example of a metrics dashboard:
Metrics Dashboard
The trend indicators on the top left display in different colors to demonstrate how the business is performing. The thresholds that display the negative metrics in a different color immediately attract the users attention.
Operational Performance Scorecard in the Shared Reports\Enterprise Reporting Documents folder.
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Dynamic Content Dashboards

These dashboards consolidate many reports into a single dashboard through the use of multiple layers or panels. They enable users to interactively change the context of the dashboard by using special controls. Dynamic content dashboards can cater to any type of audience, but are particularly useful to users who want to go beyond the birds eye view of the business to identify the actual causes for exceptions and alerts. Using layers or panels within a dashboard makes it easier for users to follow a guided workflow, where they can identify problems and take immediate action based on what they see within the layers of a single dashboard. The following image shows an example of a dynamic content dashboard:
Dynamic Content Dashboard
The dashboard shown above contains several common dashboard characteristics, such as: KPIs with trend indicators (the color-coded triangles) An interactive graph with a slider for selecting the time frame
Navigation tabs on the top right, which enable users to access different views of the business all within the single dashboard Single-page display Specifically designed for online use and interactivity
To view this dashboard, log in to the Human Web. Resources Analysis Module in MicroStrategy
Locate the Human Resources Analysis Dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
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Dynamic Visualization Dashboards

These dashboards use dynamic graphing techniques and advanced visualizations (made possible by Flash technology) to convey more meaning in less space. With advanced visualizations, users can view more of the data represented over time spans, all in one dashboard. These dashboards also enable users to interact with graphs, much like they interact with a standard grid. The following image shows an example of a dynamic visualization dashboard:
Dynamic Visualization Dashboard
These types of dashboards include Flash-specific features such as transitions, interactive widgets, and more sophisticated formatting. The next topic describes this dashboard example in detail.
The goal of dynamic content dashboards and dynamic visualization dashboards is to make it possible to view more data through a single dashboard and to interact with that data. By viewing more reports on a single dashboard, you can more readily identify connections between data elements and make better and faster business decisions to keep your business on track. Dynamic content dashboards and dynamic visualization dashboards, which fall under the general category of dynamic enterprise dashboards, are the main focus of this course.
Corporate Sales Overview Dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
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Interacting with a Dynamic Visualization Dashboard

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe the many ways you can interact with a dynamic visualization dashboard.
The Corporate Sales Overview dashboard provides a good introduction to dashboard functionality in MicroStrategy Report Services. The following image shows the first panel of the Corporate Sales Overview, which uses a variety of selectors, panel stacks, and Flash features:
Corporate Sales Overview: Corporate Panel
30 Interacting with a Dynamic Visualization Dashboard
This dashboard contains three panelsCorporate, Regional, and Citythat provide different levels of analysis. The dashboard panel selector enables you to choose which panel you view for the document. The current view of the document shows the Corporate dashboard panel. The Corporate dashboard panel has an analytic panel selector that enables you to choose between viewing a gauge graph for Corporate Revenue and a bar graph for Regional Performance Y/Y (Year over Year). It also has selectors on the Regional Performance line graph and Subcategory Analysis grid that enable you to choose the months and subcategories you want to view in the graph and grid, respectively. When you select different months, the line graph dynamically updates to plot the appropriate range of months. The line graph also includes a Flash transition animation feature that displays a gradual change in the line graph after you make a selection. The Category Analysis (YTD) interactive bubble widget plots each product category for its units sold and revenue. The size of each bubble represents the categorys profit margin. The widget contains a Play button that shows category performance over time. Flash features also enable the rounded effect on the panel stacks for each quadrant of this panel and the mirrored gradient used for the dashboard panel and category selectors. Some of these same Flash features (rounded edges and mirrored gradients) are also used on other panels in this dashboard.
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The following image shows the same Corporate dashboard panel with some modifications to the document view using the various selectors:
Corporate Sales Overview: Corporate Panel, Different Selections
The dashboard panel now displays the Regional Performance Y/Y bar graph. The Regional Performance line graph displays a different range of months, and the Subcategory Analysis grid displays different subcategories since a different category is selected.
You can select a different dashboard panel to view another layer in the document. The following image shows the Regional dashboard panel:
Corporate Sales Overview: Regional Panel
This panel has a selector that enables you to choose the region for which you want to display data in the two widgets on the panel. The Central Growth Trends uses a Flash Graph Matrix widget. This widget plots the Revenue Growth (Y/Y) metric across months in 2009 for each category in each call center. If you want to view data for the Profit Growth (Y/Y) or Profit Margin metrics, you can select either metric from the metric selector and the Graph Matrix widget automatically updates.
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The Daily Revenue section of the panel uses a Time Series Slider widget to plot Revenue and Revenue Forecast over time. The widget consists of two area graphs, one positioned above the other. The top graph shows a macroview of the data over time, while the bottom graph enables you to focus on a microview of a specific time segment in the graph. The widget enables you to use the slider to choose the time period you want to view in the bottom graph, which lets you to analyze specific date ranges of interest. When you move the slider, the bottom graph dynamically updates to show the selected data range. The following image shows the same Regional dashboard panel with some modifications to the document view using the widget and various selectors:
Corporate Sales Overview: Regional Panel, Different Selections
The dashboard panel now displays data for a different region. The Profit Margin metric displays in the Graph Matrix widget. The Daily Revenue area graphs focus on a different series of dates.
You can select the third dashboard panel to view yet another layer in the document. The following image shows the City dashboard panel:
Corporate Sales Overview: City Panel
This panel shows the KPIs for the selected city, with conditional formatting applied to the KPIs that exceed or fall below expectations. The Monthly Revenue line graph contains an analytic-based selector that makes it possible to select a specific month (a data point on the line). When you select a month, the Y/Y Detail Growth grid changes to display the corresponding subcategory data for that month. The panel also contains a Time Series Slider controlled by a Category and metric selector. As you can see, with the variety of panels, selectors, and Flash features, this dashboard provides many different levels of analysis in a single document, gives users flexibility to easily change views, and displays the data in a professional and appealing manner.
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Best Practices in Dashboard Design

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe various best practices for dashboard design.
Before you learn about the MicroStrategy features and functionality that make it possible to achieve dynamic enterprise dashboards, it is worthwhile to study some of the best practices for designing dashboards.The topics discussed below are based on recommendations from two top experts on dashboard creation and visual design, Stephen Few and Wayne Eckerson. list of and For a completereadingbibliographic referencestopics, recommended for dashboard design see Works Cited starting on page 425.
General Design Recommendations

Focus on the Data First
Your first priority when designing a dashboard should be to choose the right data for your target audience and display the data in the best possible format. Since the data is the most important aspect of a dashboard, be sure to use the correct visual display and graphical representations to get the meaning across to your users. As much as it can be tempting to fill a dashboard with lots of graphics and bright colors, keep the dashboard simple. Too many graphical elements on a dashboard can detract from the importance of the actual data and confuse the user.
36 Best Practices in Dashboard Design
Design the Dashboard with Your Target Audience in Mind

As a general rule, the higher up your users are in the companys organizational chart, the more they want to see data displayed visually. If you build a dashboard for your CEO, you will likely use more graphs and charts than if you build a dashboard for an operations manager. While the CEO wants the birds eye view of the business, the operations manager wants to see actual numbers. Similarly, when choosing between different graph types for a dashboard, use graphs that are familiar to and appeal to your target audience. For example, sales managers might already be familiar with funnel graphs that depict sales pipelines. It is wise to include these familiar graphs on a dashboard that is customized for their use, like the dashboard shown below. Always keep the target audience in mind when deciding how to represent the data on a dashboard.
Familiar Graph for Sales Managers
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Keep Related Data on a Single Screen

By showing all of a dashboards data on a single screen, users can better assimilate the information displayed to them. According to Stephen Few, author of Information Dashboard Design: Beyond Gauges, Meters, and Traffic Lights, you can only hold a few chunks of information (3 - 9 chunks) at a time in your short-term memory (81). If you design a dashboard that requires users to scroll down to view the entire display, they are likely to forget what they saw at the top of the screen. While scrolling within a dashboard is generally undesirable, keep in mind that it is a good idea to provide tabs for alternate dashboard panels of information or links to actual reports. Layering dashboards or linking to source reports is a good way to guide your users along a workflow where they can dig deeper to find the source of alerts and exception metrics.
Pay Attention to Object Placement

According to the visual design experts, objects in the top left of your dashboard or the center of a dashboard receive the most attention while those at the bottom right receive the least. Keeping this in mind, make sure to place the most important data on the upper left of the dashboard and move corporate logos, navigation buttons, and other non-data objects to less prominent locations. Since object placement is largely influenced by how a person reads (left to right and top to bottom), global companies need to consider their audience carefully. Also, keep in mind that larger graphical items might attract the users attention no matter where they are placed within the dashboard.
The image below shows a generic example of object placement in a dashboard:

Object Placement Example
When Possible, Limit the Number of Metrics

While a strategic performance dashboard might need to include 20 or more metrics, whenever possible, display between three to seven metrics (particularly for departmental users who need to study only a subset of metrics at a time). According to Wayne Eckerson, author of Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business, three to seven metrics have the most visual impact (226).
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Focus on Important Indicators like Trends, Variances, and Performance States

Your dashboard should focus on the KPIs that matter most to your target audience. Typically, these KPIs will be quantitative measures, trends over time, variances or comparisons, and performance states. Depending on your target users, the dashboards might even include some non-quantitative information, such as top 10 lists of customers or project goals. When displaying performance states, such as whether profits are up, down, or unchanged, consider using arrows or plus/minus signs. When emphasizing the difference between metrics, spare your users from having to do the math between two figures to calculate the variance. As an example, the dashboard below shows Revenue versus Forecast. Rather than making your users interpret the variance between the two metrics in the Financial Highlights section and on the Revenue Quarterly Trends graph, you should display the variance directly on the dashboard (Few, 57):
Variance Example
Group Like Items or Comparison Items Together

By placing like items in close proximity to one another, users can focus their attention on identifying trends or connections between the data, rather than having to scan the screen from one set of data to the other. The same concept applies to data elements that you want users to compare against one another.
Use White Space or Thin Grey Lines to Separate Groups of Data

You can effectively delineate separate groups of data by making sure that there is sufficient white space between the groups. If your dashboard is so densely populated with data that you cannot use white space alone to separate the groups, use thin grey lines instead. Alternatively, you can use a common background color to group like data. The document shown below uses white space, thin lines, and a background color to group like items:
White Space, Thin Lines, and Background Colors
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Keep Simple Navigation in Mind

If you plan to use multiple panels or layers on your dashboard, or if you need to include links to more detailed reports, be sure to place the navigation buttons and links in consistent locations. Use the same area from one dashboard panel to the next for displaying navigation elements.
Limit the Number of Fonts in a Dashboard

Be consistent with your use of fonts in a dashboard and avoid including too many different fonts. If necessary, only use a different font for headings. According to Stephen Few, the most easy to read fonts are: Arial, Tahoma, and Verdana (Sans Serif fonts) Courier, Palatino, and Times New Roman (Serif fonts)
The image below shows text in each of these fonts:

Recommended Fonts
Design Recommendations for Color in Dashboards

The general consensus among visual design experts is to use color carefully and sparingly in dashboards. Consider the following guidelines:
Consider the Corporate Color Scheme

If your dashboard needs to represent the company or even a specific department in the company, consider using colors that match the corporate color scheme.
Use Color Intensities Versus Color Hues

Color intensities are essentially the same color, only brighter or lighter. Color hues are actual colors. When possible, use different intensities of the same color to represent different data elements rather than using different colors altogether.
Use Earth-Toned Colors

Using too many bright colors can make a dashboard look unprofessional. Earth-toned colors (like greys, browns, oranges, blues, and greens) are pleasing to the eye, can effectively emphasize important data elements, and complement one another on a single screen.
Use the Same Color for a Single Measure that Displays in Multiple Places on the Dashboard
Imagine a dashboard that shows revenue across three different graphs. By using a consistent color to represent revenue, you can help users quickly identify data that is the same, even if it appears in multiple locations on the dashboard.
Use Contrasting Colors to Enable Quick Comparisons

If users need to compare two measurements (such as actual versus forecasted values), using contrasting colors makes the comparison easier. For example, actual forecast numbers in orange contrast with forecast revenue numbers in blue.
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Use Colors to Show Different Levels of Alerts

Most dashboard users can recognize that some alerts are more severe than others. For example, a red alert indicates a metric that falls severely below expectations, while an orange alert represents an underperforming metric, and a yellow alert signals a metric that might soon fall below expectations.
Consider the Dashboard in Hard Copy

If you plan to make the dashboard available in hard copy, how will the colors display in print? Will most users print on a black and white printer or a color printer? The answers to these questions can drive the color choices you make for your dashboard.
Consider Downloading a Color Finder Tool

A color finder tool can help you identify the exact RGB (Red-Green-Blue) code for a given color. After you know the code, you can enter it into the MicroStrategy Advanced Color Picker to specify a custom color. The Advanced Color Picker (shown below) is available when you format the fill color for graphs, text boxes, document sections, and more:
Advanced Color Picker
Use Sharp Contrasts Between Font and Background Fill Colors

Darker fonts should have lighter background colors and vice versa. Otherwise, the colors blend together and users have a hard time distinguishing text. The image below shows good and bad examples of font and background color combinations:
Sample Color Combinations
Consider Color-Blind Users

Ten percent of males and one percent of females are color blind (Few, 75). A multicolored dashboard loses its effectiveness on color-blind recipients. Imagine a dashboard that displays symbols in red when metrics are below expectations and green when they are above expectations. Color-blind users would have a difficult time distinguishing between green and red, thus potentially misinterpreting the data. However, color-blind users should have no problem differentiating between different intensities of the same color, so this is yet another reason for using color intensities over many different color hues. Furthermore, to avoid any color confusion, you could use symbols (like arrows) to specify good or poor performance for a given set of metrics.
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What Is Wrong with This Dashboard? Exercise:

Study the following dashboard and try to identify the areas where the designer used poor judgment:
The answers are listed at the end of this lesson.
46 Exercise: What Is Wrong with This Dashboard?
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: Dashboards are highly visual representations of enterprise performance data and integrate a potentially wide variety of data elements into a single graphical display. Dashboards emphasize the use of graphics, KPIs, single-screen display, summary-level data, and exception reporting. They are typically customized for their target audiences. MicroStrategy classifies dashboards into the following categories: Performance Summary Dashboards Metrics Dashboards Dynamic Content Dashboards Dynamic Visualization Dashboards
Lesson Summary
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The following best practices are recommended for general dashboard design: Focus on the data first Design the dashboard with your target audience in mind Keep the data on a single screen Pay attention to object placement Limit the number of metrics Focus on important indicators like trends, variances, or performance states Group like items or comparison items together Use white space or thin grey lines to separate groups of data Keep simple navigation in mind Limit the number of fonts in a dashboard
The following best practices are recommended for the use of color in dashboards: Consider the corporate color scheme Use color intensities versus color hues Use earth-toned, natural colors Use the same color for a single measure that might appear in multiple places on a dashboard Use contrasting colors to enable quick comparisons Use colors to show different levels of alerts Consider the dashboard in hard copy Consider downloading a color finder tool Use sharp contrasts between font and background fill colors Keep your color-blind users in mind when you choose colors for your dashboards
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Answers Exercise
The designer made the following mistakes in creating the dashboard:
The dashboard uses too many bright colors. The dashboard uses too many different fonts. The background gradient on the bar chart is overly distracting. The Performance by Store grid should display below the bar chart, since it shows detailed data. The black lines separating groups are unnecessary (the background colors already separate the groups). The gauges should display the metric values. The pie slices should display the metric values. The Suppliers chart would be more effective as a horizontal bar chart.
Exercise Answers
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50 Exercise Answers
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CREATING DYNAMIC DASHBOARDS
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will learn about creating dynamic enterprise dashboards using dashboard-optimized templates. You will also review the MicroStrategy Web document display modes, focusing primarily on Interactive Mode and Flash Mode. The rest of this lesson covers how you use panel stacks, panels, and selectors to create multilayered dashboards.
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Creating Dynamic Dashboards
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Use dashboard-optimized templates to quickly create a dashboard, view your dashboards in the MicroStrategy Web display modes, and use panels, panel stacks, and selectors to design a multilayered dashboard.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Use the dashboard-optimized design templates to quickly create dynamic enterprise dashboards. (Page 53) Describe the various display modes for Report Services documents in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 56) Use panels and panel stacks to provide users with multiple views of data within a single document. (Page 63) Use selectors and analytic-based selectors to enable users to interact with dynamic enterprise dashboards. (Page 79) Use grouping to control the output of a selector. (Page 121)
Dashboard Templates
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use the dashboard-optimized design templates to quickly create dynamic enterprise dashboards.
In the Document Essentials course, you learned about dashboard and document templates. In that course, you primarily worked with the Blank Document template, which helped you learn the default behavior of all of the sections in the Document Editor. In this course, you will focus on the dashboard templates. Dashboard templates are designed to help speed the document creation process because they contain predefined zones to which you add document objects. Dashboard templates display immediately before the Document Editor opens, when you begin creating a new document. They have the following default characteristics: Predefined and locked panel stacksDepending on the dashboard template you use, one or more panel stacks form the basis for the predefined zones of the dashboard template. The panel stack displays with a grey background fill color, rounded edges, a drop shadow, and no borders. Its width, height, and position properties are locked. It displays only one panel by default. To add more panels, you must unlock the panel stack (assuming you have the appropriate privileges and permissions to do so). Default display modeThe default display mode is Interactive Mode. Other display modesAdditional available display modes include View Mode, Flash Mode, and Editable Mode. Export formatsAvailable export formats include Excel, PDF, HTML, and Flash.
Dashboard Templates
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Full Screen ModeWhen you switch from Design Mode to View Mode, Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, or Flash Mode, the document displays in Full Screen Mode by default. Design Mode shows only the Detail HeaderMost dashboards use one section of the Document Editor to show all grids, graphs, text boxes, images, and other document objects. The dashboard templates display the Detail Header section (also called the Body section) by default so that you can easily design a dashboard using the entire screen. If needed, you can display other sections. Grid/graphs match the size of the panel stackObjects that you add to the predefined zones of the dashboard template automatically take up the entire width and the height of the panel stack. That is, the width and height properties of the grid/graph are fixed to match those of the underlying panel stack. When you add shapes and text boxes, they take up the width but not the height. Title bars for grid/graphsTitle bars are enabled by default and display with a grey gradient fill color. Predefined formatting for text boxesDepending on the dashboard template you choose, predefined text boxes for titles have a default font and font size (Tahoma, 24 point). Single layoutDashboard templates have a single layout by default.
Document developers working in MicroStrategy Desktop can create their own custom document templates. They can save existing documents as templates and then format new documents based on the document template. A document template can contain more than just formatting properties, it can also include underlying datasets, text boxes, images, and layout properties. After you create a new document based on the document template, you can further customize the document as you like. more information on templates, For MicroStrategy ReportdocumentDocument refer to the Services: Essentials course or the Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
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To create a document from any of the out-of-the-box dashboard templates:
1 On the project home page, click Create Document. 2 On the Create Document page, select a dashboard template, such as 01 Blank Dashboard. The Document Editor opens, displaying the Detail Header section by default, which contains a single layout and a single placeholder for document content, as shown below:
01 Blank Dashboard Template
Dashboard Templates
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Document Display Modes

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe the various display modes for Report Services documents in MicroStrategy Web.
The following table reviews the various display modes for documents in MicroStrategy Web:
MicroStrategy Web Display Modes
Display Mode Design Mode Features Intended for document designers Create a new document Edit an existing document Quicker performance since document results are not displayed Add and remove dataset objects Insert controls such as grids/graphs, text boxes, lines, shapes, and panel stacks Edit and format controls Format grid/graph containers only Pivot report objects on grid reports Use Grouping pane Limitations Cannot view the results of the document without switching modes Cannot format all aspects of grid/graphs, including metric values and attribute headers Cannot format widget Flash properties Cannot use selectors to flip through the panels in a panel stack or display different attribute elements or metrics in a grid/graph Cannot use Page-by to group data Cannot sort grid reports Cannot use the Fit to contents/window features Cannot show or hide rulers
56 Document Display Modes
MicroStrategy Web Display Modes

Display Mode Editable Mode Features Intended for document designers Create a new document Edit an existing document View the results of the document Add and remove dataset objects Insert controls such as grids/graphs, text boxes, lines, shapes, and panel stacks Edit and format controls Format grid/graphs, including the formatting of metric values and attribute headers Use selectors to flip through the panels in a panel stack or display different attribute elements or metrics in a grid/graph Use Grouping pane Use the Fit to contents/window features Sort grid reports and pivot report objects on them Show or hide rulers Limitations Performance reflects the fact that you see all document results as you work. Cannot format widget Flash properties
Interactive Mode
Intended for document analysts View the results of the document Use selectors to flip through the panels in a panel stack or display different attribute elements or metrics in a grid/graph Format grid/graphs Sort grid reports and pivot report objects on them Add totals Resize rows and columns Create metrics based on report objects already on the grid report Intended for document analysts View the results of the document Use selectors to flip through the panels in a panel stack or display different attribute elements or metrics in a grid/graph Access and interact with features provided by Flash, such as widgets Format widget Flash properties Sort grid reports and pivot report objects on them Intended for document analysts View the results of the document only, as you might in a static PDF file Provides better performance than all other modes, but the document is not interactive
Cannot create a new document Cannot format the layout and positioning of objects or the entire document Cannot format widget Flash properties
Flash Mode
Cannot create a new document Cannot manipulate or format grid/graphs, except to sort and pivot objects on them If a grid/graph uses a graph type that is not supported in Flash, the graph is not displayed Cannot create a new document Cannot edit an existing document Cannot manipulate any objects on the document, as you can in any of the other display modes
View Mode
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Interactive Mode
Interactive Mode is a DHTML display mode that offers a subset of the features and functionality available in Editable Mode. You can manipulate grids and graphs by pivoting, sorting, adding totals, resizing rows and columns, and creating metrics based on report objects already on the grid report. However, you cannot change the formatting and layout of the entire document. Compared to Editable Mode, Interactive Mode is available to more users and provides slightly better performance. Interactive Mode is optimized for dashboard viewing in particular.
Flash Mode
As its name suggests, Flash Mode is the display mode that enables you to access Flash functionality within your documents, such as widgets. Flash Mode offers support for advanced visualizations and Flash-specific formatting. However, you cannot manipulate or format grids and graphs, except to sort and pivot objects on them (assuming that you have MicroStrategy Web Analyst privileges). If a graph object uses a graph type that is not supported in Flash, the graph does not display. Like all display modes, Flash Mode is only available to users if you, as the document designer, specifically make it available. However, remember that when you use one of the available dashboard document templates to create a dashboard, Flash Mode is available by default.
Full Screen Mode

No matter which display mode you use to view a document, you also have the option to enable or disable Full Screen Mode. This mode displays the document without menus, toolbars, and panels, to maximize the amount of the document that you can view at once. This feature gives maximum priority to the document, instead of the MicroStrategy Web interface. Full Screen Mode is particularly useful when viewing documents that contain multiple grids, graphs, images, and panels (such as most dashboards), as shown below:
Dashboard in Full Screen Mode
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When viewing documents in Full Screen Mode, you still have access to the Standard toolbar and the Grouping pane. The Standard toolbar lets you switch display modes, save, print, export, deliver the document, and more. The Grouping pane, which only displays if you have attributes in the Grouping area of your document, lets you select from different groups of data at a time. In MicroStrategy Web, you can toggle Full Screen Mode on and off. Additionally, you can specify whether a document initially opens in Full Screen Mode.
To enable Full Screen Mode for a document:
1 Open the document in Design or Editable Mode. 2 On the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 3 In the Properties window, under Document Properties, select Document. 4 Under General, select the Always open this document in full screen mode check box, as shown below:
5 Click OK to return to the document.
The next time you open this document in MicroStrategy Web, it displays in Full Screen Mode. Web users can switch between Full Screen Mode and normal view by clicking the Restore Normal Screen Mode button in the toolbar (as shown below):
To switch back to Full Screen Mode, they can select Full Screen Mode on the View menu, or click the Full Screen Mode button in the toolbar, or press F12. view document even more, To maximize yourmodeof ayour Web browser as well enable full screen in as the Full Screen Mode in MicroStrategy Web. For example, you can press F11 to enable full screen mode in Internet Explorer, and press F12 to enable it in MicroStrategy Web. Users can control if they want to open all documents in Full Screen Mode across an entire project by setting a user preference in MicroStrategy Web.
To specify Full Screen Mode behavior for all documents in a project:
1 On the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click Preferences. 2 Under General, under Output Formats, in the Full Screen Mode Behavior for Documents drop-down list, select from the following options: Read from DocumentEnsures that a document opens in Full Screen Mode only if the documents Always open this Document in Full Screen mode check box in the Document Properties window is enabled. Open every Document in Full Screen mode Ensures that all documents in the current project execute in Full Screen Mode by default.
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Dont open any Document in Full Screen mode Ensures that no documents in the current project execute in Full Screen Mode.
check If you select thissetting box and have the document-level Always open this document in full screen mode in the Document Properties window enabled, the document does not open in Full Screen Mode. The user preference overrides the document-level setting.
Dynamic Dashboard Layering

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use panels and panel stacks to provide users with multiple views of data within a single document.
Panels and Panel Stacks

You can design a dashboard to contain panels. A panel is a predefined portion of the document canvas that contains any content, such as grids, graphs, text boxes, images, and so forth. Multiple panels can be layered on top of each other to form a panel stack. By using panel stacks, you increase the analytic richness of your dashboard by overlaying multiple layers of data. Users can navigate between the panels using selectors such as radio buttons, drop-down lists, sliders, list boxes, check boxes, button bars, and link bars. Panels and panel stacks make it possible to include all types of information (related or unrelated), all within a single dashboard. For example, by including panels in a document, you can help to guide your users through a logical workflow where they can move successively from high-level information to more detailed information without ever leaving the dashboard. You can view panels and panel stacks in both Desktop and MicroStrategy Web. However, when you want to interact with multiple panels in a panel stack, you should use the Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, or Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. The PDF and HTML modes in Desktop enable you to view the current panel only, without giving you the choice to select other panels. This behavior is also true for documents you view in View Mode or export to PDF or Microsoft Excel from MicroStrategy Web. For dashboard designers who need to preview documents in Flash Mode in Desktop, there is a Flash preview mode where you can interact panels in a panel stack. You will learn more about panel viewing behavior throughout this section.
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With dashboard panels, users have immediate access to the reports they need to see and with which they want to interact. Being able to view these reports simultaneously, or in quick succession, makes it easier for users to identify connections among reports. Panels and panel stacks are essential building blocks for interactive dynamic enterprise dashboards. You can layer dashboards in two ways, as shown below: Analytic panel layersLayering grids and graphs on a single panel stack within a larger dashboard Dashboard panel layersUse a large panel stack as the basis for a multilayered dashboard
Methods for Layering Dashboards
Analytic Panel Layers

With this method, you layer two (or more) panels, each containing a different grid or graph, within a single panel stack. The panel stack is just one component of a larger dashboard. In Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, and Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web, users can flip between the panels, quickly replacing one object with the other.
64 Dynamic Dashboard Layering
In the following image, a single gauge displays on a panel. The name of the panel is Corporate Revenue. In the image below, the user selects the Corporate Revenue panel in a radio button selector:
Analytic Panel Layer Example: Panel 1
When the user selects the Regional Performance Y/Y panel instead, a second panel opens to display a bar graph, as shown below:
Analytic Panel Layer Example: Panel 2
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Using panels, you can display many independent layers of data within a single panel stack on a dashboard page. Imagine a dashboard that contains many individual panel stacks where each stack lets users toggle between various grids and graphs. Selectors, like the radio buttons, enable users to interact with the dashboard and proactively choose the data they want to view at a given time. In this example, you view graphs that show two different levels of similar data (corporate versus regional), but you could also use grids or graphs that show completely unrelated data.
Dashboard Panel Layers

The dashboard below offers three different views of human resources-related data. The Headcount Summary tab shows KPIs on the top left, an area chart with headcount data on the top right, and a grid at the bottom with more detailed departmental and regional headcount metrics.
Dashboard Panel Layer Example - Panel 1
If you select the Attrition/Hiring Summary tab, you see an entirely different set of data, as shown below:
Dashboard Panel Layer Example - Panel 2
The third tab, Compensation Summary, offers yet another perspective of this human resources-related data. From a design perspective, the entire dashboard is based on one large panel stack that contains three panels. Within each panel, there are many grids, graphs, and even nested panel stacks. From these examples, you can see how panels and panel stacks add flexibility and greater depth to your dashboards. They make it possible to display much more information than a traditional dashboard. They also make it easy for users to interact with the data.
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Characteristics of Panels and Panel Stacks

A panel stack is a container for a group of panels. You must add a panel stack before you can insert and design individual panels. When you insert a new panel stack into a document, the panel stack automatically includes one panel. You can add additional panels as you please. With the panels in place, you add the objects (also called controls), such as grids, graphs, text boxes, and so on, which display the data that a user sees on a given panel. A user sees only the border of a panel stack. You can design the border with formatting properties, such as 3-D effects, drop shadows, rounded corners (displayed in Flash Mode only), border colors, and border styles. Each individual panel controls its own background color, so you can assign different panels distinct background colors. The panel stack stores the properties that control a group of panels. These properties control the display of title bars and pop-up text, as well as size and position information. The title bar is an area across the top of the panels that shows the title. You can specify whether the title bar displays the name of the panel stack or of the panel currently being displayed. You can also choose to hide a title bar. The current panel is the panel currently displayed in all display modes (Design, View, Interactive, Editable, and Flash). It is also the panel that displays on the panel stack when you export the document to PDF or Microsoft Excel. switches to View in When the user Web or exports toMode or Microsoft MicroStrategy PDF Excel, whichever panel is current is the only panel in view, as well as the only panel you can print. The user cannot change to a different panel. When using panels and panel stacks, you must add a selector, such as a radio button or drop-down list, to enable users to display the different panels of a panel stack. In Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, and Flash Mode, a user can use the selector to switch panels.
Unlike title bars and panels, a selector is not part of a panel stack. It is a different type of object that you add to the document separately. It enables users to switch panels.
For moreoninformation on selectors, see Selectors starting page 132.

The following image points out the individual parts of a panel stack and panel:
Panel Stack Components
When you use panel stacks in a document, the data and formatting elements of each panel in the panel stack are transferred to the Web browser, resulting in a longer initial response time. The performance impact of using multiple panel stacks in a document varies depending on the size of data associated with each panel, the format of each panel, and so on. This behavior is something to keep in mind as you create your dashboards. more information on document performance, see For Document Performance Considerations lesson the starting on page 383.
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Inserting and Defining Panel Stacks

The following high-level steps outline the procedure for inserting and defining panels: 1 Insert a panel stack (the holder for the panels). A single panel is automatically added to the panel stack. 2 (Optional) Display the title bar, which shows either the panel stack title or the panel name to help identify the panel stack. 3 Insert as many additional panels as you need to hold the layers of data. 4 Add objects to each panel to display the data. You can add grids and graphs, text boxes, images, and so forth, just like you add to any typical document. 5 (Optional) Specify an order for the panels. By default, panels display in the order in which you add them. 6 Choose a panel to display when users initially view the document. 7 Format the panel stack, panels, and title bar. 8 Add a selector to enable users to switch between panels. Each of these steps is described in more detail in the next few sections.
1. Inserting Panel Stacks

A panel stack is the holder for panels. When you insert a panel stack, a single panel is automatically included in the panel stack. You can then add more panels to the panel stack as you please.
To insert a panel stack into a document:
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 If needed, expand the section to which you want to add the panel stack. cannot add a panel stack to the Details section You document. Since objects in the Details section of a repeat for every row in the dataset, the panel stack would also repeat for every row. Because this leads to an undesirable design, panel stacks are prohibited from the Details section. 3 On the Insert menu, select Panel Stack. OR On the Insert toolbar, select Panel Stack:
the mouse to When you move as cross-hairs.the Layout area, the pointer displays 4 Click the desired location of the Layout area. (If you click and drag in the section, you can size the panel stack.) The panel stack displays in the section, with a single panel.
2. Displaying a Title Bar (Optional)

You can choose whether you want to display the title bar, which shows either the name of the panel stack or the name of the panel that is currently selected.
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By default, the name of the current panel (the panel that is currently in view) displays in the title bar, as shown below. When you switch panels, the name in the title bar changes:
Panel Stack Title Bar Shows Panels Name
If you want the same title to display, regardless of which panel is currently in view, you can change a setting in the panel stack properties. You can assign any name you like to the panel stack and this name displays constantly no matter which panel is in view, as shown below:
Panel Stack Title Bar Shows Panel Stacks Name
To display a title bar:
1 In the Layout area, right-click the panel stack and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select General. 3 Under Panel Stack, select the Show Title Bar text box. 4 By default, the name of the current panel displays in the title bar. To display the title of the panel stack instead, in the Title drop-down list, select Custom Title. 5 The title of the panel stack is blank by default. To change it, in the Custom Title box, type the desired title. 6 Click OK to apply the changes and return to the document. You can adjust the height of the title bar, which by default is .2 inches.
To change the height of the title bar:
1 Right-click the panel stack and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 3 Under Title Height, in the Fixed at box, enter a value for the height.
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Steps 3 - 6: The Panel Stack Toolbar

The panel stack toolbar provides many functions that help to define the panel stack, including the following:
Panel Stack Toolbar
Button Purpose Select or move the panel stack
Display the previous panel. This button is greyed out if the panel stack contains only one panel.
Display the next panel. This button is greyed out if the panel stack contains only one panel.
Add a new panel
Duplicate the current panel
Delete the current panel
Move the current panel backward
Move the current panel forward
Rename the current panel
Insert content into the current panel, such as text boxes, shapes, grids, graphs, panel stacks, and so forth.
You can insert as many additional panels to a panel stack as needed. When you add a new panel, it is placed after the panel that is currently in view. For example, a panel stack contains Panel1, Panel2, and Panel3. Panel2 is currently in view. When you add another panel, the order is Panel1, Panel2, Panel4 (the new panel), and Panel3. You can use the toolbar to change the order at any time. order of the panels panel stack Theorder in which they in adisplayed inalso impacts the are a selector. By default, panels get generic names like Panel1, Panel2, and so forth. You can rename panels to better describe their business purpose. In fact, you should provide more meaningful names for panels, especially since these names display in the selector (from which users select the panel they want to view) and in the title bar. The panel that displays in Design Mode is set as the current panel. If you add a panel to a panel stack, the new panel becomes the current panel. The current panel also displays when you first open the document, although you can use a selector to switch to a different panel. To speed the document design process, you can duplicate panels within a panel stack. For example, if you like the layout of an existing panel, you can duplicate it, make minor changes to the duplicate, and save yourself a lot of time on formatting.
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Formatting Panels and Panel Stacks

You can format a panel stack by changing its borders. You can control the border color and style, as well as apply 3-D effects, drop shadow effects, and rounded corners (Flash only). For example, in the image below, the panel stack shows a drop shadow and the default grey background color for the current panel, Revenue Information:
Panel Stack Formatting - Panel 1
If you decide to display the title bar, you can format it by changing the font and background color (including using gradients as backgrounds).
For the individual panels within the panel stack, you can assign different background colors and gradients. For example, in the image below, the panel has a white background fill color instead of the default grey background color. Also, notice how the panel stacks drop shadow still displays, regardless of the background color of the panel:
Panel Stack Formatting - Panel 2
To format a panel stack:
1 Right-click the panel stack and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select one of the following: Color and LinesEnables you to change the fill color and borders of the panel stacks title or the panel stacks body FontEnables you to specify the font, font style, font size, font color, and special effects EffectsEnables you to specify 3-D borders, drop shadows, and rounded corners (Flash only)
3 After formatting the panel stack, click OK.
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Locking Panel Stacks

If you want to prevent users from inadvertently moving, resizing, or adding panels to a panel stack, you can lock it.
To lock a panel stack:
1 Right-click the panel stack and select Properties and Formatting. 2 Under Properties, select Layout. 3 Under Position, select the Locked check box. panel stack is padlock When awhen you selectlocked, it displays a or Editable button it in Design Mode Mode, as shown below:
Formatting Tips
The following list offers additional formatting tips: Use the 3-D effect to make a panel stack, and the panels within it, display like a button. Use the drop shadow effect to make a panel stack and the panels within it float above the background. Use gradient colors to give the effect of a color-blended background. Use tooltips to show expanded descriptions for the contents of a panel stack.
Selectors
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use selectors and analytic-based selectors to enable users to interact with dynamic enterprise dashboards.
What Is a Selector?
Selectors provide dashboards with interactivity, enabling users to select the data they prefer to see. MicroStrategy Web users use selectors in Interactive, Editable, or Flash Mode. With selectors, you can: Switch between panels in a panel stack. Display different metrics or elements of an attribute, custom group, or consolidation in a grid or graph. custom groups are special Consolidations andyou create in Desktop. For application objects more information on these objects, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course, the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide product manual, or the MicroStrategy online help. Display different elements of an attribute, custom group, or consolidation within a dynamic text box on a panel stack.
selector can A grid/graph ortarget only two document object types a a panel stack. If you want a selector to change the contents of a dynamic text box, you must place it on a panel stack and use the panel stack as the selectors target.
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The image below shows a generic example of a dashboard with multiple selectors. The buttons at the top enable you to control the data you see in the various graphs. The check boxes let you specify which elements to view on the pie chart and the slider lets you decide a time frame by which to filter the line graph.
Selectors at a High Level
Switching Panels in a Panel Stack

In a previous example, you have seen how you can use a selector to switch the panels in a panel stack:
Selector Switches Panels in a Panel Stack
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Every selector must have an action type and a target. In this example, the selectors action type is to select a panel and the target is the panel stack on which the grids are placed. To create this type of selector, you first insert the selector in the section of the Layout area and then you define its various properties. The document must already contain the panel stack that serves as the selectors target. The next few procedures explain the steps involved in creating this type of selector.
To insert a selector into a document:
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Select the section to which you want to add a selector. 3 On the Insert menu, select Selector, and select the desired selector style. OR On the Insert toolbar, click the arrow next to Selector Control, and select the desired style.
4 Click within the Layout area section to place the selector in it. If you click and drag within the section, you can size the selector. insert a selector by You can alsoand selecting Createright-clicking the For panel stack Panel Selector. more information on how to insert selectors, see Alternative Methods for Inserting Selectors starting on page 94.
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To create a selector that switches panels in a panel stack:
target is enabled By default, automatic meansmaintenance not have to for this exercise. This that you will select a specific target and that it will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected target is the correct one. 1 After you add a selector to the document, right-click it, and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. 3 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Panel. is greyed out because The Source property different action type. you define a source for a 4 Under Targets, in the Panel Stack drop-down list, select a desired panel stack.
A selector can have only one panel stack target.

5 Click OK.
You will learn more about the Advanced settings throughout this lesson.
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In the example, the selectors properties are defined as follows:

Panel Stack Selector Definition
Notice the Action Type is Select Panel, the Source is unavailable, and the Target is a panel stack. In this example, the panel stack contains the two panels, each with its own distinct grid.
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Selecting Attribute Elements in a Graph

In the document shown below, the selector is a check box list that lets you choose a category. The categories that you select affect the contents of line graph, as shown below:
Selector Controls Attribute Elements in a Graph
This type of selector requires an action type, a source, and a target. In the example, the Category attribute on the graph is the source and the graph is the target. The selector also displays the (All) option, which lets you view every category on the line graph simultaneously.
To create a selector that enables you to select the attribute elements to display on a grid/graph:
1 After you add a selector to the document, right-click it, and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. 3 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Attribute Element. 4 In the Source drop-down list, select the desired source attribute. Source the attributes Thedatasetslist contains all ofdocument. in all of the included in the
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5 Under Targets, in the Available list, select the desired grid/graph and move it to the Selected list. target By default, automaticthat youmaintenance isto select enabled. This means will not have a specific target and that it will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected target is the correct one. element can have multiple An attribute can selectselector or multiple targets. You single grid/graphs or panel stacks, or any combination of the two, as targets. 6 If you want the selector to apply to all targets as a filter., select the Apply selections as a filter check box. default, Apply selections as filter check Byselected. theyou want the selectora to apply all box is If targets as a slice, clear the check box. 7 If you want to show a Total option in the list of elements, select the Show option for Total check box. setting, see For moreainformation on thison page 101. Show Totals in Selector starting 8 If you want to show an All option in the list of elements, select the Show option for All check box. 9 If you select the Show option for All check box and you want to use an alias for the default (All) option, type the desired text in the Alias box. 10 Click OK.
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Attribute Element Selector Definition
The Action Type is Select Attribute Element, the Source is the Category attribute, and the Selected target is the Line Graph. To enable users to see all of the attribute elements on the graph, the Show option for All check box is selected. However, since there is no custom alias in the Alias box, the selector displays (All) by default.
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Selecting Metrics in a Grid

In the document shown below, the selector is a link bar that lets you to choose one or more metrics. The selector lists all of the metrics contained in the grid or graph that you choose as the target. The metrics you select on the selector show up on the target grid, as shown below:
Selector Controls Metrics on a Grid
To create a selector that enables you to choose metrics to display on a grid/graph:
1 After you add a selector to the document, right-click it, and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. 3 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Metric. Source drop-down list is greyed out because The type of selector does not have a source. this 4 Under Targets, in the Available list, select the desired grid/graph and move it to the Selected list.
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By default, automatic target maintenance is will enabled for this exercise. This means that you
not have to select a specific target and that it will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected target is the correct one. If you would like manual control, under the Targets section, under the Apply selections as filter check box, click the link for This layout is configured to automatically maintain targets. If you would like manual control, click here. can have You A metric selectoror multiplemultiple targets. panel can select single grid/graphs or stacks, or any combination of the two, as targets. 5 If you want to show an All option in the list of metrics, select the Show option for All check box. 6 If you select the Show option for All check box and you want to use an alias for the default (All) option, type the desired text in the Alias box. 7 Click OK.
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Metric Selector Definition
The Action Type is set to Select Metric, the Source is unavailable, and the Selected target is the Category Performance Grid. Also, since the Show option for All check box is enabled and All Metrics is defined for the alias, the selector shows the custom alias instead of the default (All) option. When you run the document in Interactive, Editable, or Flash Mode, the selector shows the metrics that are contained in the target grid/graph. If the grid/graph contains calculated expressions (custom metrics defined within dynamic text boxes), these types of metrics are not listed in the selector. However, other types of custom metrics contained in the target grid/graph, like summary metrics and derived metrics, do display in the selector.
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Selecting Attribute Elements in a Dynamic Text Box

In the document shown below, a drop-down list lets you choose a category and the dynamic text box at the right automatically displays the category you select (as well as the revenue value for that category). The text box combines {Category} and {Revenue} with static text. These dynamic text boxes correspond to the Category attribute and the Revenue metric in the documents dataset. The selector can control the text box because it displays on a panel stack and the panel stack is the selectors target.
Selector Controls Dynamic Text on a Panel Stack
You define the selector as an attribute element selector where the source is Category and the target is the panel stack that contains the dynamic text box. In the example, the selectors properties are defined as follows:
Attribute Element Selector Definition
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The Action Type is Select Attribute Element, the Source is Category, the DHTML style is Drop-down, and the Selected Target is the Text Box Panel Stack.
Selector Styles
When you define a selector, you must choose a style, an action type, a source, and a target. The DHTML styles for selectors are: Button Bar Check Boxes Drop-down Link Bar Listbox Radio Buttons Slider (most often used for time series analysis)
The image below shows the various DHTML styles for selectors:
DHTML Styles for Selectors
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If you selectasslider, radio buttons, check boxes, oryou button bar the DHTML style for your selector,
can control the orientation of the selector. The Orientation option lets you choose between displaying the selector horizontally or vertically. a You can also defineon few Flash styles for selectors. For more information these styles, see Fish Eye Selector Widget starting on page 345. The following table lists the selector styles that require only one selection at a time and those that let you select multiple elements simultaneously:
Selector Styles
One Selection at a Time Drop-down Radio buttons Multiple Selections Button bar Check boxes Link bar Listbox Slider
Check you If you set the DHTML style tothe SelectBoxes, action cannot create a selector with Panel type, since you cannot display multiple panels simultaneously. Select a different DHTML style to display panels. When you insert a selector using the Insert menu option or the Insert toolbar button, you choose the selector style right away. However, you can change the selector style at any time.
To change the selector style for an existing selector:
1 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout.
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3 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select the desired style. 4 Depending on the style you choose, you can modify the orientation. In the Orientation drop-down list, select Horizontal or Vertical. all selector You can change the orientation forListbox styles. styles, except the Drop-down and 5 Depending on the style you choose and depending on whether you want users to be able to select multiple items, you can select the Allow multiple selections check box. option is The Allow multiple selectionsexcept for disabled by default for all selector styles, the Check boxes style. 6 If you want the selector to display all elements with the same consistent width no matter how long each element might be (in terms of character length), select the Make all items the same width check box.
For more information on this option, see116. Formatting Selectors starting on page
Selector Components Summary
When you define a selector, you specify the following properties: Selector styleDetermines how the selector displays and whether it enables you to select multiple elements simultaneously Action typeDetermines whether a selector displays elements, metrics, or panels SourceDefined only when the selector displays elements. The source is the attribute, custom group, or consolidation whose elements display in the selector Target(s)Determines which grids, graphs, or panel stacks the selector affects
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A selector can target only twoIfdocument object types: a grid/graph or a panel stack. you want a selector to
change the contents of a dynamic text box, you must place it on a panel stack and use the panel stack as the selectors target.
Alternative Methods for Inserting Selectors

Beyond using the Insert menu and toolbar to include selectors in documents, you can insert selectors in the following ways: For a panel selector, right-click the panel stack and select Create Panel Selector. The panel stack is automatically assigned as the selectors target. For an attribute element selector, right-click the source attribute in the grid/graph and select Create Selector Control. The grid/graph is automatically assigned as the selectors target. For an attribute element selector, right-click the source attribute in the Dataset Objects pane (under the dataset) and select Create Element Selector. The selector does not have a target, but you can assign one in the selectors properties. For a metric selector, right-click the Metrics header in the grid and select Create Selector Control. The grid is automatically assigned as the selectors target.
Besides using the Properties and Formatting window, you can select targets for a selector using another method called target selection mode.
To assign targets for selectors in target selection mode:
1 Right-click the selector and select Select Target. 2 Pressing the CTRL key, select the desired targets, which must be either grid/graphs, panel stacks, or a combination of those object types.
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3 Click the checkmark in the Select Target floating toolbar, shown below:
target By default, automaticthat youmaintenance isto select enabled. This means will not have a specific target and that it will be available automatically. If you try to manually select target you will see a warning message that you will need to manually maintain targets for all selectors in the current layout, shown below:
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Selector Defaults
These next sections describe some of the special properties that control the behavior of certain types of selectors.
Enable Selectors to Control Other Selectors

You can configure a selectors elements to change based on the chosen element in another selector. For example, in the document shown below, the Region selector controls the managers that display in the Manager selector. When you select (All) in the Region selector, the Manager selector displays all managers for all regions, as shown below:
Selector Controls Selector - All Regions
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When you select a single region in the Region selector, the Manager selector displays only the managers that belong to that single region, as shown below:
Selector Controls Selector - Single Region
You achieve this type of design by using a dedicated panel stack for the child selector (in this example, the Manager selector) and the grid. The Region selector is located outside of the panel stack, as shown below:
Selector Controls Selector - Design Mode
The Manager selector uses the grid as its target. The Region selector, in turn, uses the panel stack that contains the Manager selector and the grid as its target. both the Manager selector grid Make sure thatwith the panel on the paneland theThe are associated stack. Document Structure pane shows each panel and its associated objects.
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If you wanted to design a similar document but hide the panel stack, you could disable the panel stacks title bar, set the background fill color for the panel to no color, and disable any borders. After you have defined the objects as described above, you can interact with the selectors and observe how the Region selector affects the Manager selectors elements. At times, depending on the combination of elements you choose for both selectors, you may notice an unexpected result. For example, your first selection is the Southwest region, as shown below:
Then you choose a single Southwest manager, William Jackson, as shown below:
If you then try to switch to another region, such as Central, the grid displays the following message:
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The message displays within the grid because it tries to return data that is both Region=Central and Manager=William Jackson (a Southwestern manager). Since no such data exists, the grid cannot return a result set. To resolve this issue and to ensure that the grid automatically displays the first manager in the newly selected region, you must enable the Manager selector to be updated by the Region selector. You make this possible by selecting the Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection check box, as described in the procedure below:
To enable a selector to control another selector:
1 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. target By default, automaticthat youmaintenance isto select enabled. This means will not have a specific target and that it will be available automatically. If you would like manual control, under the Targets section, under the Apply selections as filter check box, click the link for This layout is configured to automatically maintain targets. If you would like manual control, click here.
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3 Under Advanced, select the Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection check box, shown below:
4 Click OK. When you enable this option for the Manager selector, and you re-create the scenario described above, the grid retrieves the first manager in the Central region, as shown below:
In summary, for a selector to control another selector, you must: Place the selector that you want controlled by another selector on a panel stack. Define the master selector to use the panel stack as its target.
In some cases, you may also want to specify any grid/graphs on that panel stack as targets too.
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To avoid no data returned scenarios, enable the Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection check box for the child selector.
Show Totals in a Selector

Selectors that contain attribute, consolidation, or custom group elements as selector items can also include an option to display totals. The total is calculated for all the selector items. Users can choose to display the total, specific elements only, or all of the elements at the same time. For example, the document below has a selector for categories and a grid that displays months, categories, and revenue. The check boxes selector lets you choose whether you can view specific categories, all categories, or the total. In the image, the user selects (All):
Totals on a Selector - (All) Selected
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You could also choose to see specific categories and their total, as shown below:
Totals on a Selector - Specific Categories and Total
Notice that the values in the Totals column remain the same as in the previous example. The total is always calculated using all selector items (in this case, categories). The image below shows a category selector that targets a panel stack that contains a dynamic text box. When you choose the Total option, the total revenue of all categories displays:
Totals on a Selector Targeting a Panel Stack with Dynamic Text
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To enable totals on a selector:
1 In Design or Editable Mode, right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting.
The selector must be an element selector.

2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. 3 Under Advanced, select the Show option for Total check box.
Automatically Apply Selector Changes

Typically, after a user chooses an item in a selector, the target immediately updates itself. This happens after every selection, which may take some time when the user is permitted to select several items. To enable the user to manually apply their selections, you must clear the Automatically apply selector changes check box in the Document Properties window. Disabling this option enables the user to choose when to update the target. This way, the user can select a single item or multiple items and then click an Apply button on a floating toolbar to update the target. As a document-level setting, the Automatically apply selector changes option applies to an entire document or dashboard, not to individual selectors. In other words, if you disable the option, a user must manually apply their selections for every selector in the document (even for those that permit only one selection at a time).
The Apply button displaysisonly if Automatically user apply selector changes disabled and after the
modifies a selection for a selector.
To clear the Automatically apply selector changes check box for a document:
1 Open the document in Design or Editable Mode.
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2 On the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 3 In the Document Properties window, under Document Properties, select Document. 4 Under General, clear the Automatically apply selector changes check box. 5 Click OK to return to the document.
Automatically Maintaining Targets for Selectors

Report Services documents can now be configured to automatically define and maintain the targets for all selectors in the document. This simplifies the design process when creating a new dashboard. If targets are enabled to be automatically maintained in a layout: All attribute and metric selectors automatically target all grid/graphs and panel stacks that are in the same panel or document section as the selector. You cannot change the target of an attribute or metric selector, except by moving controls to different document sections. Any new grid/graph or panel stack is automatically added as the target of all attribute and metric selectors in the same panel or document section.
automatically maintained Targets are notalways manually define the for panel selectors. You targets for panel selectors.
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For example, the document shown below has two panel stacks (Panel Stack A and Panel Stack B). Each panel stack has its own grid/graph and its own selector that lets you choose a region. By default, the selector you create in each panel stack controls the grid contained in the same panel stack, as shown below:
Automatic Target Maintenance Enabled
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If you were to add additional selectors to each panel stack, they too would automatically target the grid/graph in their respective panel stack. To know for sure that a selector automatically targets a grid/graph within its same panel stack, you can right-click the selector, select Properties and Formatting, and view its targets. The image below shows the properties for the selector in Panel Stack A from the example above:
Automatic Target Maintenance Enabled
Notice above how the Available targets and Selected targets lists are grayed out. In the Selected targets list, only GridGraph48 displays. Also, notice the available link (at the very bottom of the image above) that you can click if you want to switch to manual control. When you add a selector to a panel stack or to a document section and automatic target maintenance is enabled, you must still define certain properties for the selector. For example, in an attribute element selector (like the one above), you would need to specify the Source (in this case, Region).
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If you add new panel stacks or grid/graphs to Panel Stack A, the new objects are automatically added as targets to Panel Stack A region selector. For example, in the image below, a new panel stack (Panel Stack C) is added to Panel Stack A, which displays the Region attribute dynamic text field. When you choose a new region in the selector, the same region name displays in the dynamic text field on Panel Stack C:
Automatic Target Maintenance - New Panel Stack
The properties for the region selector in Panel Stack A now display as follows:
Automatic Target Maintenance - Selector Properties
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Automatic target maintenance works for attribute for element selectors and for metric selectors, but not
panel stack selectors. A panel stack selector is a selector that lets you choose the panels in a panel stack. In addition to the examples described above, you can also use an attribute on a grid/graph as a selector. If a user clicks an attribute element on the grid/graph, the target changes to display information only for that element. Automatic target maintenance also applies to these types of selectors.
Disabling Automatic Target Maintenance to Allow Manual Target Selection

If you want to manually select targets for attribute and metric selectors, you simply disable automatic target maintenance. You can disable automatic target maintenance while editing a selector, which disables it for the entire document layout. You can also disable automatic target maintenance through the Document Properties.
To disable automatic target maintenance for an entire document layout while editing a selector:
1 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, on the left-hand pane under Properties, select Selector. 3 Under the Targets section, under the Apply selections as filter check box, click the link for This layout is configured to automatically maintain targets. If you would like manual control, click here. that A warningtomessage displays indicating if youyou will need manually maintain targets disable automatic target maintenance. 4 Click OK.
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Automatic target maintenance is now disabled for all selectors in the layout for the document (for all panel stacks and all document sections of that layout).
To disable automatic target maintenance for an entire document layout in the Document Properties:
1 Open the document in Design Mode. 2 On the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 3 In the Document Properties window, on the left-hand pane under Layout Properties, select Layout. 4 Under the Layout section, clear the Automatically maintain targets for all selectors in this layout check box. 5 Click OK. When you disable automatic target maintenance, targets that were automatically maintained before are automatically saved and no targets are deleted or changed. You can now define new targets for existing attribute or metric selectors. If you create any new selectors, you must manually select the targets for them.
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Following the previous example, if you disable automatic target maintenance, the original selectors and targets remain the same, but you can now modify them manually, as shown in the Properties and Formatting window:
Automatic Target Maintenance Disabled - Properties
You could select GridGraph49 from Panel Stack B as the target, so that when you choose a region in the Panel Stack A region selector, the same region displays in the grid on Panel Stack B, as shown below:
Automatic Target Maintenance Disabled
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In addition, if you add a new selector to the panel stack (or anywhere in the documents layout), no targets are automatically defined, so you must manually define the targets.
Enabling Automatic Target Maintenance

When you enable automatic target maintenance on a layout, the targets of all existing attribute and metric selectors are replaced with all the grid/graphs and panel stacks that are in the same panel or document section as the selector. Continuing the example from above, if you enable automatic target maintenance in the Document Properties, the Panel Stack A region selector once again targets the grid/graph and nested panel stack in Panel Stack A, as shown below:
Automatic Target Maintenance - Enabled Again
You enable automatic target maintenance by selecting the Automatically maintain targets for all selectors in this layout check box in the Document Properties, as described in the previous procedure. You cannot enable automatic target maintenance while editing an individual selector.
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Selectors as Filters
With a filtering selector, you can filter the data elements before the grid gets generated and displayed. This means that a users selections are considered when displaying any total amounts in the target grid or graph. For example, in the document shown below, the dataset report contains Region, Year, and the Revenue metric. The selector on the left lets you select the Region, using the slicing method. The grid to the right displays Year and Revenue only and is targeted by the Region selector. When you select Central, three rows, one for each year, display in the grid:
Selector as a Slice - Single Selection
If you select Mid-Atlantic as well as Central, six rows display (two for each year) in the grid:
Selector as a Slice - Multiselections
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This occurs because the selector slices the data by region before the user selections are made, and cannot aggregate the slices for multiple regions. If you change the selector to filter rather than slice the data, the yearly revenue is aggregated across the selected regions. The yearly revenue is the total of the Central and Mid-Atlantic values for each year, and only one row for each year displays in the grid, as shown below:
Selector as a Filter
Other important differences between filtering and slicing selectors are described below: With slicing, you can enable the total to be displayed as an item in the selector. This option is called Show option for Total in the selector advanced properties. A filtering selector does not display the total as a selector item. With slicing, you can specify that the selector automatically uses a default selection when other changes in the document cause the selection made by the user to return no data. This option is called Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection in the selector advanced properties. It is not available for filtering selectors.
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When you run documents in MicroStrategy Web, slicing is performed on Intelligence Server in Interactive Mode. This means that when a user chooses different items in a selector, a call is made to the Web server to update the document. In Flash Mode, slicing is performed on the client machine. When you use a slicing selector in Flash Mode, the document can run faster as users change their selections because no separate call to the Web server is required. In contrast, filtering is performed on the Intelligence Server in both Interactive and Flash modes. As compared to slicing, a filtering selector can speed up the initial load time of a document in Flash Mode, since all the slices do not need to be initially downloaded to the client. This is an important performance benefit to consider for your dashboards.
Selectors in a Document that You View Offline

When you view a document offline (exported to Flash, in a subscription, or in MicroStrategy Office): If a selector uses filtering, only the data for the current selections are included in the document. An offline user cannot change the selector and update the target. If a selector uses slicing, all the slices, and therefore all the data, are included in the document. An offline user can change the selector and update the target.
Defining Selectors to Filter or Slice

You can define whether: A specific selector slices or filters the data. Selectors in the entire document slice or filter the data. This document-level property is used to define the behavior of new selector targets, except when the target being added is already the target of another selector that uses the same source. In that case, the target uses the behavior defined in the other selector.
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A specific target is sliced or filtered by a selector, allowing you to filter one target and slice another using the same selector.
This functionality is available in the selector properties in MicroStrategy Desktop, but not
MicroStrategy Web. To learn more about it, refer to the Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
To apply selections as filters or slices for a specific selector:
1 Open the document is Design Mode. 2 In the Document Editor, right-click the selector you want to update and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, select the Apply selections as a filter check box if you want the selector to apply to all targets as a filter. default, Apply selections as filter check Byselected. theyou want the selectora to apply all box is If targets as a slice, clear the check box. 4 Click OK.
To apply selections as filters or slices at the document level:
1 Open the document in Design Mode. 2 In the Document Editor, in the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 3 In the Document Properties window, select the Apply selections as filter for all new targets check box if you want all selectors to apply to all targets a a filter. applies all This document-level propertydocumenttothatnewnot selectors that you add to the do have a target, expect when the new target is already the target of another selector that uses the same source.
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Formatting Selectors
You can apply various formatting options to selectors. You can control the background color, border, drop shadow, font, gradient color, tooltip, and so on. One formatting property that is specific to selectors is called Make all items the same width. By default, items in a selector are sized so that they are wide enough to display the complete text for the item, with minimal wasted space. In the example below, the selector enables you to choose categories. Each category link bar is sized widely enough to display the complete text of the category. This is the default behavior for selectors, where the Make all items the same width option is disabled, as shown below:
Make all items the same width Check Box Disabled
There might be instances where you want to force the selector to display all items with the same width, particularly when the items have similar lengths (such as a selector that enables you to choose quarters and all the quarter descriptions are the same character length).
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However, in the example above, if you enable the Make all items the same width option, the selector displays as follows:
Make all items the same width Enabled
Notice how the categories with longer names get cut off, such as Electronics. In this scenario, you would want to keep the default behavior and leave the option disabled. you size selector Keep in mind that howthe itemstheit. also impacts the display of in
To specify a selector width as fixed:
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 4 Under Selector, select the Make all items the same width check box. 5 Click OK.
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Analytic-Based Selectors
Just as you can use an attribute, consolidation, or custom group as the source for a selector, you can also use a grid or graph. When you use a grid or graph to control another grid/graph, you synchronize data across the grids and graphs, as shown in the diagram below:
Analytic-Based Selectors
Using grids and graphs as selectors adds a new dimension of depth to your dashboards.
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Example: Analytic-Based Selector

In the image shown below, the Category Revenue pie chart controls the Top 5 Suppliers horizontal bar chart. If you select Books from the pie chart, the Top 5 Suppliers chart automatically displays the top 5 suppliers for the products in the Books category, as shown below:
Analytic-Based Selector Example
run the To see this dashboard in action, you can located in the Performance Management dashboard MicroStrategy Tutorial project in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. This scenario uses one graph targeting another graph. The pie chart does not actually become a selector, but behaves in a similar manner as a selector. You can use the lower panel stack or the Top 5 Suppliers grid/graph as the target for the pie chart.
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To use a grid or graph as a selector:
assumes you have already This procedureuse as the selector, as well ascreated a grid/graph to the panel stack or grid/graph to use as the target. The selector and target must have an attribute or metric in common. That is, the grid/graph that serves as the selector and the target grid/graph should be based on datasets that have an attribute or metric in common. 1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Select the grid/graph to use as the selector.
The grid/graph must be in Grid view.

3 Right-click the attribute header to use as the selector, and select Edit Selector. 4 In the Configure Selector window, in the Available Targets list, select the desired targets and move them to the Selected Targets list. 5 Click OK to return to the document. right-click the Alternatively, you can Select Targets.attribute header on the grid and select In target selection mode, select the target panel stack or the grid/graph and click the green check mark on the target selection mode toolbar.
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Grouping and Selectors

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use grouping to control the output of a selector.
You can use grouping to customize the output of selectors in dynamic dashboards. The item you select in the grouping object controls the elements listed in the selector. The following example uses grouping on the Region attribute and a radio button selector on the Call Center attribute, which controls the output on the grid. When you choose a region (such as Northwest), the selector automatically displays only the call centers that belong to that region:
Grouping and Selectors Example
To use grouping and selectors (high level steps):
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 In the Grouping pane, place a higher-level attribute (like Region). 3 Add the grid/graph to the Detail Header (or Body) section.
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4 Add a selector and define its source as another related, but lower-level attribute (such as Call Center). 5 Specify the selectors target as the grid/graph.
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Exercises
Layering Grids in a Panel Stack
Overview
In this exercise, you will create a dashboard that uses a grid and a graph on a multipanel panel stack. The focus of the exercise is to learn how to work with panels and panel stacks. The precise formatting and positioning of the objects is less important. The final output for the panels on your panel stack should resemble the following two images (additional guidelines are provided on the next page):
Country Headcount Panel
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Region Headcount Panel
If you want to create the document without following the detailed instructions, you can use the following guidelines: Use the 01 Blank Dashboard template to create the document. Add a panel stack. Use the panel stacks properties to name it Main Panel Stack. Name the default panel, Country Headcount. On the Country Headcount panel, insert the Employee Headcount by Country report located in the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder. Switch the Employee Headcount by Country grid to display as a graph. On the Main Panel Stack, add another panel called Region Headcount. On the Region Headcount panel, insert the Employee Headcount by Region report located in the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder.
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On the Main Panel Stack, define the title bar to display a custom titleHeadcount Information. The Main Panel Stack should have a drop shadow effect with 5 of 20 distance. The Main Panel Stacks title bar should use a grey-40% fill color and 12-point font. A button bar selector lets you switch between the panels. Apply optional formatting to the graph and grid, as described in steps 52 through 56. Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Grid Layers on Panel Stack.
You can use the detailed instructions if you want help.
Detailed Instructions
Log in to MicroStrategy Web
1 Depending on the configuration of your training environment, to connect to MicroStrategy Web, do one of the following: From the Start menu on your Windows desktop, point to Programs, point to MicroStrategy, point to Web, and select Web. OR Open your Internet browser and type the URL provided to you by your instructor. 2 On the MicroStrategy Web home page, click the MicroStrategy Tutorial project. 3 On the MicroStrategy Web login page, in the User name box, type the user name provided to you by your instructor. 4 In the Password box, type the password provided to you by your instructor. 5 Click Login.
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Create the document
6 On the project home page, click the Create Document link. 7 On the Create Document page, click 01 Blank Dashboard. 8 To familiarize yourself with the Blank Dashboard document template, in the Document Editor, on the Tools menu, select Sections. 9 In the Properties window, notice how only the Body section (Detail Header) is selected. Click Cancel to exit this window. 10 In the Layout area, on the placeholder panel stack, click Add Content and select Panel Stack. 11 On the panel stack toolbar, click Rename Panel.
12 In the Rename Panel window, in the Name box, type Country Headcount. 13 Click OK. 14 On the Country Headcount panel, click Add Content and select Report. 15 In the Select Dataset window, browse to the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder, select Employee Headcount by Country. 16 Click OK. 17 Right-click the Employee Headcount by Country grid, point to View Mode, and select Graph View.
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Your document should resemble the following image:
Add another panel
18 Hover your cursor over the panel stack until you see the panel stack toolbar and click Add Panel .
19 With the new panel in view, on the panel stack toolbar, click Rename Panel.
20 In the Rename Panel window, in the Name box, type Region Headcount. 21 Click OK. 22 With the Region Headcount panel in view, on the panel stack toolbar, click Insert and select Report.
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23 In the Select Dataset window, in the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder, select Employee Headcount by Region. 24 Click OK.
Assign a custom title to the panel stacks title bar
25 Right-click the panel stack (not the grid) and select Properties and Formatting. 26 In the Properties and Formatting window, under General, in the Name box, type Main Panel Stack.
Giving objects descriptive names is importantwhen because you can better identify these objects
you need to select them and modify them later on. Also, as objects become layered on top of one another, you will be able to find them by name in the Document Structure pane and the MicroStrategy Web toolbar in Editable Mode. 27 Under Panel Stack, notice how the Show Title Bar check box is enabled by default. In the Title drop-down list, select Custom Title. Panel Name selected by default. Current bar shows theiscurrent panel name,Typically the title but you want the title bar to show a panel stack name, which displays no matter which panel is currently in view. To ensure the panel stack name displays in the title bar, you choose Custom Title. 28 In the Custom Title box, type Headcount Information. 29 Click Apply.
Add a special effect to the panel stack
30 Under Format, select Effects. 31 Under Drop Shadows, select the Enable Drop Shadows check box. 32 On the Distance slider, drag the needle to 5 of 20. 33 Click Apply.
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Format the title bar of the panel stack
34 Under Format, click Color and Lines. 35 On the right-most top drop-down list, select Title. 36 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, select Grey-40%. 37 Under Format, click Font. 38 In the Size list, select 12. 39 Click OK to return to the document.
Save your document
40 Click Save to save your work.
41 Name the document Grid Layers on Panel Stack and save it to your My Reports folder.
You should remember to save your document periodically.

42 Run the newly saved document.
You cannot yet switch the panels in the panel stack because you need to include a selector.
43 Switch to Design Mode.
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Add a selector to the panel stack
44 With the Main Panel Stack selected, use the down keyboard arrow key to position the panel stack (and all of its contents) a little lower on the placeholder. You want to leave room at the top for the panel selector, as shown below:
45 Right-click the Main Panel Stack and select Create Panel Selector. 46 Position the panel selector above the Main Panel Stack, on the placeholder. Size it so that it matches the width of the panel stack, as shown below:
always a You shouldthe panelplace the selector inloselocation outside of stack, or else you sight of it when you toggle to a panel that is not the current panel. 47 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting.
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48 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. Selector, the Action Type should list Select Under Under Targets, the Panel Stack box should Panel. list Main Panel Stack. 49 Under Properties, select Layout. 50 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select Button Bar. 51 Click OK.
Test your new panel stack's interactivity
52 Switch to Interactive Mode.
53 Click the buttons in the panel selector to switch between panels. 54 Save your document again.
Optional grid/graph formatting
55 You can switch to Editable Mode and resize the graph so that it displays better on the panel stack.
56 To remove the scroll bars on the grid, right-click the grid and select Properties and Formatting. 57 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 58 Under Grid, in the Grid Overflow (HTML) drop-down list, select Clip. 59 Click OK.
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Selectors
Overview
In this exercise, you will practice creating different types of selectors. When you complete the exercise, the document should resemble the following image:
In this dashboard, you can select a category, which controls the subcategories listed in the check box selector. You can also select one or more metrics to display on the graph. The subcategories you choose also affect the graph. This dashboard behaves very much like the Product Performance dashboard, located in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. If you want to create the document without following the detailed instructions, you can use the following guidelines: Use the 02 Title and Content dashboard template to create the document.
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Use the Product - Monthly report, located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Product Performance folder, as the dataset. The title of the dashboard is Product Performance. Add a Category static text box as the label for the Category drop-down selector. Add a panel stack on the bottom left of the placeholder and disable its title bar. This small panel stack contains the Subcategory check box selector. Add a grid to the bottom right of the placeholder that contains Quarter on the rows, Subcategory on the columns, and all of the datasets metrics. Set the grid to display in Graph view. The Category drop-down list selector targets the small panel stack that contains the Subcategory check box selector. The metrics radio-button selector targets the grid/graph. The Subcategory check boxes selector targets the grid/graph and lets users choose All Subcategories. It also lets users see the total for all subcategories. The grid/graph uses the Quick Switch feature to enable users to switch from graph view to grid view. Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Product Performance.
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The document in Design Mode displays as follows:
Create the document
1 On the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click Create Document. 2 On the Create Document page, under Dashboard Templates, click 02 Title and Content. 3 In the Document Editor, on the Tools menu, select Dataset Objects to open the Dataset Objects pane (if it is not already open). 4 In the Dataset Objects pane, add the Product - Monthly report, located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Product Performance folder, as a dataset.
Add a title
5 In the Layout area, double-click inside the top-most text box and type Product Performance as the title.
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Add the Category static label
6 In the Layout area, on the placeholder panel stack, click Add Content and select Text. 7 In the text box, type Category: and resize the text box to accommodate the text, as shown below:
Add a panel stack
8 On the Insert menu, select Panel Stack. 9 Place the panel stack on the bottom left of the placeholder. 10 Use the Properties and Formatting window to disable the title bar for the panel stack.
Add a grid
11 On the Insert menu, select Grid.
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12 Add a grid to the bottom right of the placeholder, as shown below:
13 In the Dataset Objects pane, under the Product - Monthly dataset, drag Quarter and place it in the rows of the grid. 14 Drag Subcategory and place it in the columns. 15 Pressing the CTRL key, select all of the metrics and drag them to the metrics section of the grid, as shown below:
Add the Subcategory selector
16 In the grid, right-click the Subcategory header and select Create Selector Control. 17 Place the new Subcategory selector on top of the bottom-left panel stack.
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surround the Look for the yellow lines tothe selector is panel stack, which indicates that associated with that panel stack. 18 Right-click the Subcategory selector and select Properties and Formatting. 19 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 20 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select Check Boxes. 21 In the Orientation drop-down list, select Vertical. 22 Click Apply. 23 Under Properties, select Selector. Source, and Target should be The Action Type,because you created the selector already defined from the attribute in the grid. If they are not, you may need to add the target for the selector manually. 24 Under Advanced, select the Show option for Total check box. Total The Show option for disablecheckbox is disabled by default. You need to the Apply selections as filter check box first. target By default, automaticthat youmaintenance isto select enabled. This means will not have a specific target and that it will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected target is the correct one.
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25 In the Alias box, type All Subcategories, as shown below:
26 Click OK. 27 Resize the Subcategory selector so that it takes more of the length of the panel stack.
Save the document
28 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Product Performance. 29 Run the newly saved document and switch to Design Mode.
Add the Category selector
30 With the placeholder panel stack selected, in the Dataset Objects window, right-click the Category attribute and select Add Element Selector. 31 Place the new selector next to the Category label at the top of the placeholder. 32 Right-click the Category selector and select Properties and Formatting.
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33 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Selector. 34 Under Advanced, clear the Show option for All check box. 35 Click OK. 36 Right-click the Category selector and select Select Target. 37 Select the bottom-left panel stack (the one that contains the Subcategory selector). 38 In the target selection mode toolbar, click the green check mark, as shown below:
Create the metrics selector
39 In the grid, right-click the Metrics header and select Create Selector Control.
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40 Place the metrics drop-down selector between the Category selector and the panel stack as shown below:
41 Right-click the Metrics selector and select Properties and Formatting. 42 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 43 Under Selector, in the DHTML drop-down list, select Radio Buttons. 44 Click Apply. 45 Under Properties, select Selector. Target are The Action Type andthe selectoralready defined because you created from the Metrics header in the grid. 46 Under Advanced, clear the Show option for All check box. 47 Click OK. 48 Resize the metrics selector so that it takes up the width of the placeholder panel stack.
Switch the grid to Graph view and enable Quick Switch
49 Right-click the grid, point to View Mode, and select Graph View. 50 Right-click the graph and select Properties and Formatting. 51 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout.
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52 Under Grid, select the Quick Switch check box. 53 Click OK.
Save the document and study it in Interactive Mode
54 Save the document again, replacing the existing document. 55 Run the newly saved document and study it in Interactive Mode. 56 In the Category drop-down selector, select Electronics. 57 In the metrics radio button selector, select Profit. 58 In the Subcategory check box selector, select Cameras and Computers. Your document should resemble image at the beginning of this exercise. 59 Hover your mouse to the top-left of the graph until you see the Quick Switch button (shown below) and click it:
60 In the Subcategory selector, select the Total check box. Total reflects values for all The Cameras and Computers. subcategories, not just
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Analytic-Based Selector
Overview
In this exercise, you will use a graph to control another graph. Imagine this design as just a section of a larger dashboard. When you complete the exercise, your final result should resemble the following image:
If you want to create the document without following the detailed instructions, you can use the following guidelines: Use the 01 Blank Dashboard dashboard template to create the document. Use the Performance by Store report and the Top 5 Suppliers in Category report, located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Performance Management folder, as the datasets. Add a grid/graph that contains Category and Revenue from the Performance Management Dataset dataset to the top half of the placeholder panel stack.
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Add the Top 5 Suppliers in Category dataset with formatting to the bottom half of the placeholder panel stack. Use the Category attribute in the top grid to target the bottom graph. Switch the top grid to Graph view, displaying a pie chart. Optionally, apply graph formatting to the pie chart so that the reports name and the legend do not display. Also, change the font on all text to 8-point font. Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Analytic-Based Selector Example.
Create the document
1 Create a new document, based on the 01 Blank Dashboard template. 2 In the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Performance Management folder, add the following reports as datasets: Performance by Store Top 5 Suppliers in Category
Add a grid
3 Add a grid to the placeholder panel stack and position it so that it takes up the top half of the placeholder. 4 In the Dataset Objects window, under Performance by Store, drag Category and Revenue to the columns of the grid.
Add a graph
5 Right-click the Top 5 Suppliers by Category dataset and select Add to Section with Formatting.
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6 Position and size the grid/graph object so that it takes up the bottom half of the placeholder.
Set the grid to control the graph
7 Select the top grid. 8 Right-click the Category attribute and select Select Targets. 9 Select the Top 5 Suppliers by Category grid/graph. 10 Click the green check mark on the target selection mode toolbar. target By default, automaticthat youmaintenance isto select enabled. This means will not have a specific target and that it will be available automatically. If you try to manually select target you will see a warning message that you will need to manually maintain targets for all selectors in the current layout, shown below:
Switch the grid to a pie graph
11 Right-click the grid, point to View Mode, and select Graph View. 12 Click the Graph menu to view the toolbar. 13 On the Graph toolbar, change the graph type to Pie. 14 Use the grids Properties and Formatting window to disable the title bar. 15 Disable the title bar on the bottom graph as well. 16 Save the dashboard to the My Reports folder, naming it Analytic-Based Selector Example.
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17 Run the newly saved document and study it in Interactive Mode. Your results should resemble the following image:
Optional Tasks: Format the Pie Graph
18 Switch to Editable Mode. 19 Click Restore Normal Screen Mode, as shown below:
20 Click the Graph menu to view the toolbar. 21 Select the pie graph.
Hide the graphs legend
22 On the Graph toolbar, click Legend to hide the legend, as shown below:
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Change the font size for all text on the graph
23 On the Format menu, select Graph. 24 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, with Format and All Text listed in the top two drop-down lists, change the font size to 8 point. 25 Click Apply.
Hide the reports title
26 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, in the Format drop-down list, select Titles. 27 In the All Titles drop-down list, select Title. 28 Clear the Show check box. 29 Click Apply.
Display the category labels for the pie slices
30 In the Titles drop-down list, select Series Labels. 31 In the Title drop-down list, select Pie Labels for Books Revenue. 32 Select the Show check box. 33 Click Apply. 34 Repeat steps 31 - 33 for every pie label (series 2 through 4). 35 Click OK.
Study the document in Interactive Mode
36 Switch to Interactive Mode and test the interactivity by clicking any section of the pie chart and studying how your selection impacts the bar graph. 37 Save your document, replacing the existing document.
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Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: The dashboard document templates enable you to create dashboards quickly, because you can place objects in predefined placeholders. MicroStrategy Web has five document display modes: View Mode, Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, Design Mode, and Flash Mode. In addition, you can choose to view documents in Full Screen Mode. A panel stack is a container for one or more panels. A panel on a panel stack can contain any content, such as grids, graphs, text boxes, images, and so forth. A panel stack can display a title bar that shows either a custom title or the names of the individual panels within the stack. The current panel is the panel in view. You can insert as many panels as you want within a panel stack. You can rename panels, change their order, and format their individual background colors. You can change the borders of a panel stack. You can format the font and background color of the title bar. Selectors enable users to interact with a dashboard by letting them choose which elements, metrics, or panels they want to view at a given time. A selector has the following components: style, action type, source, and target.
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Depending on whether you enable or disable them, the following options impact the behavior of selectors: Allow multiple selections Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection Show option for Total Show option for All Automatically apply selector changes
You can format selectors like you can format other objects by changing their fonts, background colors, gradients, tooltips, borders, and so on. You can also format a selector so that the items listed within it display with the same width. Analytic-based selectors are grids/graphs that control other grids/graphs. These objects should be based on datasets that have at least one attribute in common.
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3
FLASH MODE AND WIDGETS
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will explore Flash Mode and all of the functionality that this document display mode offers.
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Flash Mode and Widgets
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the characteristics of documents that you display in Flash Mode and include advanced visualizations in these documents.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Explain the benefits of DHTML and Flash output formats and understand certain characteristics of Flash in particular. (Page 151) Use MicroStrategys out-of-the-box Advanced Visualization Library to include data widgets in your documents. (Page 158) Use Flash-specific formatting features to enhance documents that display in Flash Mode. (Page 178)
DHTML Versus Flash

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Explain the benefits of DHTML and Flash output formats and understand certain characteristics of Flash in particular.
DHTML Benefits
All of the features and functionality that you have learned up to this point in the course focus on pure DHTML (also called AJAX) functionality. Each of the MicroStrategy Web document display modesView Mode, Interactive Mode, and Editable Mode are DHTML modes. Documents that display in DHTML offer the following benefits: Shorter initial load timeWhen you view a document in DHTML, you do not download all of the content for a document all at once. Instead, you download content on demand from the Web server. This behavior helps shorten the documents initial load time. Incremental fetch of dataWith DHTML as your document format, you can enable incremental fetch, which makes it possible to download slices of data from the Web server in increments. This feature helps minimize the documents initial load time even further. For documents that contain a large amount of data, DHTML might perform better than Flash. True zero footprint on the clientWhen you view a document in DHTML, you do not need additional applications installed on your client machine. A standard Internet browser is the only required application. Minimal security issuesBecause documents in DHTML do not require the use of special plugins (like Flash), they enable corporations to maintain strict security policies prohibiting users from downloading such plugins.
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Smaller output filesDepending on the amount of data in the document, documents in DHTML format typically produce smaller output files than those in Flash. Best mode for PDF display, printing and archivingDocuments that you view in DHTML also display well in PDF. When converted to PDF, they print easily and produce the smallest-sized files for archiving.
Flash Benefits
While DHTML has its benefits, you might want documents that offer a greater level of interactivity. To address this need, MicroStrategy Web offers a Flash Mode, which displays Adobe Flash technology within documents. Flash Mode offers the following benefits: Immediate interactive responseDocuments that display in Flash Mode automatically download all data to the client machines browser, which means that all manipulations and interactivity happen locally, without requiring trips back and forth to the Web server. This behavior typically results in much faster response to user interactions. Also, if documents contain attributes in the Grouping pane, grouping occurs locally within the Flash dashboard on the client browser as well. Advanced visualizations and animationsMicroStrategy offers an out-of-the-box library of advanced Flash visualizations (or data widgets) that go beyond standard graphs. Examples of widgets are time series sliders, gauges, and heat maps. These sophisticated graphs make it possible for users to view and interact with the graphical data, much like they are accustomed to interacting with grids. Disconnected operationYou can export a document saved in Flash Mode to an MHT file. This type of file enables you to view the document, with all of its Flash functionality, without being connected to the MicroStrategy environment. In addition, using MicroStrategy Office, you can run documents saved in Flash Mode in Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Outlook and retain all the Flash functionality.
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Unlimited visualization extensibilityMicroStrategy offers native integration with Adobe FlexBuilder 3 IDE (the application that enables you to create Flash widgets). You can create any visualization, and simply plug it into MicroStrategy. You can also import third-party visualizations. on For more informationreferextending the visualization library, to the MicroStrategy Developer Library (MSDL) provided with MicroStrategy SDK.
Because Flash is a native part of MicroStrategys architecture, any documents you design in the Editable Mode are also available in Flash Mode. In other words, with Report Services, you can design a document once and then decide if you want to view it in any of the DHTML modes or Flash Mode, or all modes. Although it is possible to toggle between DHTML and Flash Modes, in most reporting environments, users would analyze a document in one mode. They might toggle modes when they want to view a document that displays by default in Flash Mode in one of the DHTML modes instead, possibly because they do not have a Flash player installed on their client machine. Switching from Flash Mode to any of the DHTML modes is as easy as selecting a new display mode on the View menu (or selecting the appropriate view button in the toolbar). want view Flash Besides toggling, ifinusersof the to alwaysmodes, they Mode documents one DHTML can disable the Enable Flash Mode option in their Report Services User Preferences in MicroStrategy Web. When this setting is disabled, documents that open by default in Flash Mode will open in Interactive Mode instead (assuming that Interactive Mode is enabled).
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Characteristics of Documents in Flash Mode

The following are characteristics of documents that display in Flash Mode: You can design a document in Desktop or MicroStrategy Web and render it using the Flash preview mode in Desktop or Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. The Flash preview in MicroStrategy Desktop renders the document but does not permit you to save any changes to it. For this reason, it is typically most efficient to design documents for Flash Mode directly in MicroStrategy Web. To view documents in Flash Mode, you must have a Flash player installed on your client machine. Adobe Flash Player 9.0 or higher is required to render documents in Flash Mode. Since Flash functionality is commonly used across most Web-related applications, it is likely that you have a Flash player installed already. If you try to open a document that displays by default in Flash Mode and do not have a Flash player installed, you receive a warning message. In Flash Mode, you can perform the following basic manipulations on grids and graphs: Sort data in grid Pivot report objects to and from rows and columns in grid Use Quick Switch on grid/graphs Use Maximize/Minimize Portal Window feature on grid/graphs Additional grid/graph manipulations are possible only in Interactive or Editable Mode. Objects such as panel stacks and selectors have a sharper, richer display in Flash Mode, although their function is the same as in the DHTML modes.
As you know, MicroStrategy offers many out-of-the-box graph types. Unfortunately, not all graphs that are available in DHTML modes are available in Flash Mode. MicroStrategy uses the Adobe Flex 3 Framework to generate Flash graphs and Adobe Flex Charts only supports a subset of the charts in MicroStrategy's graph library. The following table lists the graph types supported in Flash Mode:
Graph Types Supported in Flash Mode
Graph Type (graph subtype) Area Vertical (percent, stacked, absolute) Area Horizontal (absolute) Bar Horizontal (clustered, absolute, percent, stacked, clustered dual axis) Bar Vertical (clustered, absolute, percent, stacked, clustered dual axis) Pie (pie, ring pie) Line Horizontal (absolute, dual axis absolute) Line Vertical (absolute, dual axis absolute) Scatter (X-Y scatter, X-Y scatter dual axis) Hi-Low (Hi-Low Open Close) Bubble
uses a graph If a graph object in a documentthe graph doestype that is not supported by Flash, not display in Flash Mode. In its place, the user sees a message stating The selected graph type is not currently supported in Flash. Like documents in DHTML format, documents that display in Flash Mode automatically inherit all of the security and scalability features that come with the MicroStrategy platform. When you print a document from Flash Mode, the printed version of the dashboard resembles the default DHTML view of the dashboard. Some objects may not print due to their interactivity requirements (like macrographs in a time slider series widget).
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You can export a document in Flash Mode to MHT format and analyze it offline. Like documents that you view in the DHTML modes, you can run documents saved in Flash Mode using MicroStrategy Office in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. You can work offline with these documents and take advantage of their Flash functionality. In addition, with MicroStrategy Distribution Services, you can subscribe to receive documents saved in Flash Mode by e-mail. All of the documents Flash features display in the e-mail body or attachment. more on MicroStrategy Office, For Officeinformation product manual. For see the User Guide information on MicroStrategy Distribution Services, see the System Administration Guide product manual.
Exporting Documents in Flash Mode to MHT

In addition to being able to run documents that are saved in Flash Mode within a Web browser, you can also export them and save copies on your computer for offline analysis. An exported Flash Mode document is saved in MHTML format. This file format stores HTML content, Flash content, images, and data in one unique file. You open .mht files with a Web browser.
You must use Microsoft Internet Explorer to open .mht files. Other browsers do not currently support
opening .mht files, unless you use special plugins.
To export a Flash Mode document to MHT:
1 Open the desired document in MicroStrategy Web. 2 On the toolbar, click Flash:
toolbar, are Flash buttons. To On the to MHT, therewanttwoclick the right-most export you to button, as shown above. 3 In the MicroStrategy Web warning window, which states that you need to save the exported file locally before opening it, click OK. 4 In the File Download window, click Save. 5 Save the file to a desired location. 6 In the Download Complete window, click Close. 7 Close the Export page. 8 Browse to the location where you saved the file and open it. file The.mhtwill have the same name as the document, plus the extension.
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Advanced Visualizations
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use MicroStrategys out-of-the-box Advanced Visualization Library to include data widgets in your documents.
Widgets are interactive, Flash-only graphs that dynamically update when you select a new set of data to view. MicroStrategy offers several widgets that you can use in Flash dashboards. Each of these widgets typically serve a specific business purpose and have strict data requirements. In Desktop, you define widgets in Design Mode. In MicroStrategy Web, you define widgets in Design Mode or Editable Mode. To interact with widgets, you must view the document in Flash Mode.
Single-Value Widgets
To represent a single value in a visual manner, dashboard designers often use gauges, thermometers, or cylinders. A Gauge widget is much like a cars speedometer. It displays a needle that moves within a range of numbers shown on the gauge, as shown below:
Gauge Widget
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The needle within the gauge is a visual representation of the single metric value (in the previous example, the Profit Margin metric). of a gauge To see an examplePerformancewidget in a document, run the Regional Management Dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. The Cylinder widget displays a vertical cylinder with fluid in it. The level of the fluid represents the metrics value, as shown below for Revenue Risk:
Cylinder Widget
of a cylinder widget To see an exampleCustomer Scorecard in a document, run the Predictive document in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
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A Thermometer widget shows the level of the temperature to represent a metrics value, as shown below for Percent Growth:
Thermometer Widget
are particularly Thermometerstoward a specificuseful if you want to track progress goal. Each of these widgets share the same data requirements, namely: The source dataset must contain one attribute in the rows and one metric in the columns. You must include a selector if you want users to interact with the widget.
The image below shows the widget template in Design Mode for the Gauge widget in the previous example:
Gauge Widget Template
best practices Keep in mind the dashboard designand cylinders. when using gauges, thermometers, Unless you have unlimited screen space for your dashboard, you might save valuable space by listing a single value metric as text. If you need the visual impact of a Flash widget, a thermometer or cylinder uses less space than a gauge.
Inserting Widgets
The process by which you insert a widget into a document is the same, no matter which widget you choose.
To include a widget in a document:
the You must haveWebWeb Document Design privilege (a MicroStrategy Professional privilege) to add a widget or modify its properties. 1 Select the panel, or section in the Layout area to which you want to insert a widget. 2 Do one of the following:
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On the Insert menu, select Widgets, and select the appropriate widget. OR On the Insert toolbar, in the Widget drop-down list, select the appropriate widget, as shown below:
3 Drag the widget to the panel or section. A grid-like object represents the widget. You can right-click this object to modify any of its properties. 4 Define the widget by placing report objects, such as attributes and metrics, on the widget grid.
Defining Widgets from Existing Grid/Graphs

You can also turn any existing grid/graph object in your document into a widget, as long as the grid/graph meets the data requirements for the selected type of widget. For example, imagine you have a document that contains a grid with Region on the rows and Profit Margin on the columns. You can define this grid to display as a Gauge widget by modifying its properties.
To define a widget from an existing grid/graph in a document:
1 Right-click the grid/graph that you want to display as a widget and select Properties and Formatting.
meet the The grid/graph mustthe widgetwidgets data in requirements or else will not render Flash Mode and you will receive an error message. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 3 Under Widget, in the Selected Widget drop-down list, select the desired widget. 4 Click OK.
Time Series Slider

The Time Series Slider widget lets users see two views of time-related data, microview or macroview. The Time Series Slider has a controller (shown below in the upper graph) that permits users to set the range of data that is visible in a separate area graph (shown below in the lower graph). Using the slider of the controller, users can focus on a specific time range or expand their view to a broader time range. An example of a Time Series Slider widget, where the controller focuses on a specific time frame (4/7/2003 to 9/15/2005), is shown below:
Time Series Slider Widget
of the Time Series Slider widget, To see an exampleStatements document in the Shared run the Financial Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
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The Time Series Slider widget has the following data requirements: The source report must contain one attribute along the rows. This attribute is normally time-based, but does not have to be time-based. The attribute displays on the X-axis of the chart. should contain many values (like The attributeor months). In the example, the days, weeks, X-axis represents the Day attribute. The source report must contain one or more metrics along the columns. The metrics display on the Y-axis of the chart. In the example, the Close Price metric displays on the Y-axis. along If the source report has more than one metricarea the columns, the graphs display as a stacked chart. To see an example of a Time Series Slider with multiple metrics, run the Corporate Sales Overview dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder of the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and click the Regional tab. No separate selector is required for interactivity.
The image below shows the widget template for the Time Series Slider widget:
Time Series Slider Widget Template
Interactive Stacked Graph

The Interactive Stacked Graph widget enables users to see a contribution of an individual metric series (or a specific group of series) to the total. This widget uses a built-in selector that permits the user to control the displayed series. For example, in the image below, the check box selector on the left of the chart controls the series that display in the area graph:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget
As you select regions, more series display in the area chart. When all of the series display, the chart represents the total of all the series. If you want to view how a single series contributes to the total, simply click a single region. If you want to view how multiple series contribute to the total, use the CTRL key to multiselect several regions (highlighted in the image below). This type of widget enables you to quickly analyze how the individual parts make up the whole, which is useful when analyzing percent-to-total contributions. To use an interactive stacked graph, you must meet the following requirements: The source report must contain two attributes: One attribute must display along the rows (for the graphs X-axis). In the previous example, the Month attribute
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displays along the X-axis. Another attribute must display along the columns (for the check box selector). In the example, the Region attribute acts as the check box selector. The source report must contain one metric along the columns (for the graphs Y-axis). In the example, the Revenue metric is measured along the Y-axis. Interactive Stacked Graph Since theits own built-in selector, youwidget need contains do not to create a separate selector to make the widget interactive. The image below shows the widget template for an Interactive Stacked Graph widget:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget Template
another example of an To see widget, run the SupportInteractive Stacked in Graph Center Dashboard the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
Heat Map
Heat maps (also called treemaps) display a combination of colored rectangles, each representing an attribute element. Heat maps enable you to quickly grasp the state and impact of a large number of variables at once. Heat maps are often used in the financial services industry to review the status of a portfolio. The size of each rectangle represents its relative weight. The color represents the relative change in the value of a rectangle. The smaller rectangles represent individual elements that form the larger rectangle. For example, in the image below, the heat map displays several rectangles. Each rectangle represents individual subcategories. The large rectangles represent the categories to which those subcategories belong. The size of each subcategory rectangle represents its relative weight in terms of revenue. The color represents the state of the individual subcategories in terms of positive or negative revenue growth. The darkest rectangles have the lowest percent of revenue growth while the lightest rectangles have the highest percent of revenue growth. When you place your cursor over the darkest rectangle, a tooltip displays to show the Computers subcategory, the Revenue value, and the Percent Growth value.
Heat Map Widget
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To use the Heat Map widget, you must meet the following requirements: One or more attributes along the rowsIf you use one attribute only, this attribute represents the large rectangles whose names display in the widget. If you add another attribute, it represents the smaller rectangles that fall within the larger ones. can This widgetwith ause any number of attributes. Attributes parent-child relationship work best, because they are nested within one another on the Heat Map. Two metrics along the columns The first metric determines the relative size of each of the smaller rectangles within the larger rectangle. Items with lower values display as smaller rectangles. The second metric (value between -1 and 1) determines a rectangles color. on the widget If you include more than two metricsthe drop-down template, they display as options in list in the interactive pane. A separate selector for interactivity the document In the example on the previous page, based on the contains a separate element selector Month attribute. The widgets source dataset also contains the Month attribute.
The image below shows the widget template for a Heat Map widget:
Heat Map Widget Template
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To Interact with a Heat Map

The Heat Map provides an interactive pane that enables users to control many aspects of its appearance, as shown below:
Heat Map Interactive Pane
With the interactive pane, you can choose which metrics control the size of the rectangles and the color of the rectangles. As you can see in the image above, the Percent Growth metric currently controls the color.
You can also filter the number of elements you see in the widget using two metric filter sliders. One slider filters data elements based on the metric that defines the size of each rectangle. The other slider filters data based on the metric that controls the color of each rectangle. When you move the thumbs of the sliders, any regions that are excluded on the Heat Map display as shaded while those still in view are highlighted. By selecting the Filter check box, you can remove from view the rectangles that are excluded. This makes it easier to focus on the elements of interest. The interactive pane also makes it possible to perform the following actions: Pivot or completely remove attributes from the widget template Use the Search to quickly navigate to a specific element Zoom to view a specific element Move, resize, minimize, dock, or close the interactive pane Format colors to use blending or banding Refresh the Heat Map to return to its original state View a list of deleted items, which displays the names of all the rectangles that you have removed from view
To open the interactive pane:
1 With the document open in Flash Mode, right-click the widget, and select Interactive. 2 Perform manipulations to the Heat Map as desired.
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The following image shows the Heat Map when the interactive pane is docked; the Revenue metric controls the color; the Category and Subcategory attributes are pivoted; and the color bands are red and green instead of black and white:
Heat Map - Modified
For more information on the interactive pane, see the MicroStrategy Web online help.
Interactive Bubble Graph

A traditional bubble chart lets users view a trend of three different metrics for a set of attribute elements. One bubble represents a single attribute element. The bubbles position on the X-axis represents the value for the first metric. Its position on the Y-axis represents the value for the second metric. The size of the bubble represents the value of the third metric. The Interactive Bubble Graph widget offers the following added benefits: Enables the animation of the bubbles through time. You accomplish this by moving a time slider or pressing a Play button. Enables the user to drill into the components of a bubble to see the distribution of underlying data. You drill on a bubble by clicking it. Allows multiple element selection using CTRL key. You expand any selection by holding the CTRL key at the same time other bubbles are clicked on. The extended selection is highlighted to reflect which bubbles are currently selected. Allows multiple element selection using Marquee Selector. You can make a selection of bubbles that are contiguous or that fall within the limits of a rectangular area. The selection of bubbles also triggers the underlying selector with the enclosed bubbles as the values of the selection. Specified area can be magnified by the zoom operation.
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The image below shows an Interactive Bubble Graph. You can click the arrow Play button (on the top left) to view the trend over time. You can double-click individual bubbles to drill to more detailed data. You can select multiple bubbles by holding the CTRL key, and you can also make a selection of bubbles using Marquee Selector. Drawing a marquee is initiated automatically when you click and drag the pointer. The zoom button appears inside the selection when the mouse pointer is inside the box.
Interactive Bubble Graph Widget
The bubbles represent different call centers for each year. Their positions reflect their performance for Revenue per Employee and Profit per Employee. Their size reflects the number of units sold. The Interactive Bubble Graph widget has the following data requirements:
At the very least, one attribute and three metrics are required. Depending on whether you want color coding, animation, or drilling, you should include additional attributes, as specified below: One attribute along the rows for the series (bubble) Optional additional attribute to the left of attribute along rows for series animation and drilling One attribute along columns (for color coding) Three metrics along columns (X-axis position, Y-axis position, and size of bubble)
For time animation, one extra unit is required on the time axis. If you enable time animation, the left-most attribute on the row axis represents time and groups the data for animation. For drilling, the data that drives the X and Y axis should be non-summing functions, like Average and Standard Deviation. This makes the range (scale) of values for the parent bubbles and child bubbles similar. In addition, for drilling, the source report requires specific formatting, which you can achieve by using a custom group or advanced subtotals in MicroStrategy Desktop. When using a custom group, you must set the display options so that the individual child elements display under the total for the custom group element. learn more about the advanced subtotals You willin an exercise at the end of this lesson. For method additional information on the requirements for the Interactive Bubble Graph widget, refer to the MicroStrategy Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
No separate selector is required for interactivity.
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The image below shows the widget template for an Interactive Bubble Graph widget:
Interactive Bubble Graph Widget Template
Widget Rendering in PDF and Microsoft Excel

Imagine that you want to create a dashboard for a broad target audience. Some of the users need a PDF or Microsoft Excel-only version while others want to see Flash functionality. If you include widgets in the dashboard, they will not render as expected in PDF or Microsoft Excel. To make your dashboard viewable for your non-Flash users, you need to decide if the widget should be replaced in PDF or Microsoft Excel with the original grid/graph, a placeholder, or nothing. You control this behavior within the individual widgets properties, as described below:
To define PDF and Microsoft Excel rendering options for widgets:
1 Right-click the widget and select Properties and Formatting. 2 Under Properties, select Flash. 3 Under Widget, in the PDF & Excel drop-down list, choose one of the following options: To display the underlying grid/graph instead of the widget in PDF and Microsoft Excel, select Show Grid or Graph.
To display an empty placeholder instead of the widget in PDF and Microsoft Excel, select Show Placeholder. The container of the grid/graph object displays, with the border and background formatting. The following message displays within the container: "Flash Widgets cannot be rendered in this display." This message displays in View and Interactive Mode only. To display nothing instead of the widget in PDF and Microsoft Excel, select Hide Grid or Graph.
4 Click OK.
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Flash-Specific Formatting
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use Flash-specific formatting features to enhance documents that display in Flash Mode.
There are certain types of formatting that you can display only in Flash Mode.
Formatting Widgets
You can format a variety of aspects of widgets, including fonts, colors, and data markers. Each widget has its own specific set of formatting features. For example, you can format the type of cylinder that displays in a Cylinder widget or the color of the bubbles in an Interactive Bubble Graph widget. You access the formatting options by right-clicking the widget and selecting Properties. of the You will explore someperformwidget formattingthis properties when you the exercises for lesson. For more detailed information on specific widget formatting properties, refer to the MicroStrategy Web online help. Many of the widgets, such as the gauge, thermometer, and cylinder widgets, can inherit formatting defined within the widget template. For example, when you define specific number formatting for the metric values of a cylinder within the Cylinder widget template (for instance, a percentage with 0 decimal points), the same number formatting displays when you view the widget in Flash Mode. Generally, you should define as many formatting options as possible within the widget template and enable the widget to inherit that formatting when it displays in Flash Mode. This typically improves the time it takes to render the widget.
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Rounded Corners
Documents that display in Flash Mode can display panel stacks and rectangles with a more customized, rounded effect. that Rememberin theyou can always use roundedto rectangles DHTML modes. However, customize the rounded effect of these shapes, you use the rounded corners option in Flash Mode. Rounded panel stacks are only available in Flash Mode. The image below shows the rounded, glossy look of the Corporate Performance panel stack in Flash Mode as compared to the traditional square corners of the Regional Performance panel stack:
Rounded Effect in a Flash-mode Panel Stack
To control how rounded corners display for rounded panel stacks or rectangles in Flash Mode, you can specify the radius, which sets how round the corners are. A larger radius produces a more rounded corner. You can also specify whether to round all corners or just the top corners.
To apply a rounded effect on a panel stack in Flash Mode:
1 Open the document in either Design or Editable Mode. 2 Right-click the panel stack (or rectangle) to which you want to apply the rounded corners and select Properties and Formatting.
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3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Effects. 4 Under Corners (Flash Only), select the Use Rounded Corners check box, as shown below:
5 Use the Rounded Corner Radius slider to determine the extent to which a clear rounded corner is displayed in Flash Mode. To emphasize the rounded corners, move the slider further to the right. 6 If you want to display rounded corners for the top corners only, select the Top Corners Only check box. 7 Click OK.
Transition Animations
You may notice that when objects such as grids and graphs and panel stacks first display in Flash Mode, they fade or blur as they appear on the document. These visual animations are transitions that you can enable in grid/graph objects and panel stacks. For example, a graph may fade slowly onto the screen when you select an item from a selector in the document. Transitions can take effect when you first open a document in Flash Mode or when you choose a new element from a selector. animations in action, run the To see transitionOverview dashboard located in the Corporate Sales Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. Notice how the Regional Performance line graph slowly fades onto the screen. Also, on the City panel, when you click a specific city, the Monthly Revenue line graph displays a transition.
To enable a transition animation for an object in Flash Mode:
1 Open the document in either Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Right-click the object for which you want to enable a transition animation and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 4 Under Transition, in the Selected Transition drop-down list, select the desired transition. transitions that the The types oflist depend on thedisplay inThe list of drop-down object. transition types for graphs is different than the list for grids and panel stacks. 5 In the Speed drop-down list, select the desired speed. 6 Click OK.
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7 Switch to Flash Mode. 8 Select items from a selector to see the transition take effect.
Selector-Specific Flash Formatting

The Change Selection on Mouse Over formatting feature is specific to selectors. This option lets you determine how an item in a selector is chosen in Flash Mode. If you enable this check box, the item is chosen when a user clicks the item and, while hovering the cursor over the item, a preview displays. If you clear this check box, the item is selected when a user clicks the item, without any special preview.
To enable the Change Selection on Mouse Over feature:
1 Open the document in either Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout.
4 Under Selector, select the Change Selection on Mouse Over check box, as shown below:
5 Click OK. 6 Switch to Flash Mode. 7 Mouse over the selector and observe the previews.
Additional Flash Mode Formatting Features

Documents that display in Flash Mode can also display special gradients, text alignments, and font anti-aliasing. You can learn more about these options in the MicroStrategy Web online help or the Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
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Exercises
Time Series Slider Widget
Overview
In this exercise, you will create a dashboard that will ultimately display three different types of widgets. The first type of widget you create is the Time Series Slider. When you have completed this exercise, your dashboard should resemble the following image:
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Create the dataset
1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a report that contains the following: Category (from the Products folder) Day (from the Time folder) Units Sold (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder)
To locate the Units Sold metric, you need to click 2 or, in tree view, click Next 30 items to see
additional metrics in the Sales metrics folder contents. The report should display as follows in Design Mode:
2 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Daily Category Units Sold.
Create the document
3 Create a new document, using the 01 Blank Dashboard template. 4 Add the Daily Category Units Sold report as a dataset to your document. 5 In the Layout area, click Add Content and select Panel Stack. 6 Using the panel stack toolbar, rename the current panel, calling it Daily Category Units Sold. 7 Using the panel stack toolbar, add a new panel to the panel stack and name it Panel X.
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8 Add a third panel to the panel stack, naming in Panel Y.
You will rename these panels later in the exercise.

Create a Panel Selector
9 With the panel stack selected, right-click and select Create Panel Selector. 10 Place the panel selector immediately above the panel stack (outside of it) and size it to take up the width of the panel stack, as shown below:
11 Using the selectors properties, change the DHTML Style to Button Bar.
Create a Time Series Widget
12 On the panel stack toolbar, click the arrow button to view the Daily Category Units Sold panel. (You can ensure that you are viewing the correct panel by looking at the title bar.) 13 On the panel stack, click Add Content, select Widgets, and select Time Series Slider.
Alternatively, on the panel stack toolbar, you can click the Insert button, select Widgets, and select
Time Series Slider.
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The widget displays as a grid with a special icon on the bottom right to indicate that it is a widget, as shown below:
on your computers Depending entire section in the screen resolution, to view the Layout area, you might want to change the zoom factor to 75%. 14 From the Daily Category Units Sold dataset, drag the Day attribute onto the row axis and the Units Sold metric onto the column axis of the widget grid. Your template should resemble the following image:
15 On the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 16 In the Document Properties window, under Document Properties, select Document.
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17 Under Run Modes, in the Run by default as drop-down list, select Flash. 18 Click OK. 19 Save the document in your My Reports folder and name it Flash Widgets Dashboard. 20 Run the newly saved document and view it in Flash Mode. 21 Mouse over the arrow buttons (located in the upper left-hand corner of the dashboard) to view the macrograph of the time series. Move the slider and the slider's endpoints to change the range of data that displays on the main graph. 22 Right-click the main graph and select Properties. 23 Notice the various formatting properties available for the Time Series Slider widget. Change any of these properties as you like.
188 Exercises
Heat Map Widget

Overview
In this exercise, you will add more content to the Flash Widgets Dashboard you created in the previous exercise. You will create a Heat Map widget that displays within its own panel. The final output of the document will resemble the following:
Create the dataset
1 Create a report that contains the following attributes on the rows:

Month (from the Time folder)

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Category (from the Products folder) Subcategory (from the Products folder)
2 Add the following metrics to the columns: Revenue (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder) Percent Growth (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder)
3 Include a filter for year 2009. In Design Mode, the report should display as follows:
4 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Subcategory Revenue Analysis.
Edit your existing document
5 Open the Flash Widgets Dashboard you created in the previous exercise in Design Mode. 6 Add the Subcategory Revenue Analysis report as a new dataset. 7 Using the arrows on the panel stack toolbar, switch from the Daily Category Units Sold panel to Panel X. 8 Rename Panel X, Product Growth Analysis. 9 Insert a Heat Map widget and position the widget within the Product Growth Analysis panel.
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10 From the Subcategory Revenue Analysis dataset, drag Category and Subcategory to the rows of the widget grid. 11 Drag Revenue and Percent Growth to the columns of the grid. Your widget grid should resemble the following:
12 Resize the grid to leave room at the top of the panel for a new selector.
Create a Selector
target is enabled By default, automatic meansmaintenance not have to for this exercise. This that you will select a specific target and that it will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected target is the correct one. 13 Add a drop-down selector to the current panel, positioning it above the widget grid, as shown below:
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14 Use the selectors properties to define the following settings:
Property Action Type Source
Setting Select Attribute Element Month
Show option Disabled for All Target Heat Map widget grid (Grid/Graph#, where the # is the highest of the two grid/graphs)
Save and run the document
15 Save the document (overwriting the existing document) and run the newly saved document in Flash Mode. 16 Change the month in the selector to Mar 2009. Notice the difference in size between the Electronics category and the other categories. The Electronics subcategories use larger rectangles because their revenue is greater. Also notice the difference in color between the Electronics - Miscellaneous subcategory and the Cameras subcategory in the Electronics area. Electronics Miscellaneous is green because it had over 40% revenue growth and Cameras is red because it had only a little over 10% revenue growth. The colors change depending on the percent growth metric. 17 Right-click the Heat Map and select Properties. Flash In thesettingsproperties, you can modify certain basic such as header, border and background colors, metric scale boundaries, and more. 18 On the Format tab, change the Header Color as you like and observe the changes in your document.
Use the Heat Map Interactive Pane
19 Right-click the Heat Map and select Interactive.
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20 Under Attributes, in the Grouping list, pivot the Subcategory attribute above the Category attribute (look for the blue line for exact placement) and observe the changes in the widget. 21 Pivot Subcategory back to its original position. 22 Under Controls, in the Size drop-down list, select Percent Growth. 23 In the Color drop-down list, select Revenue and observe the changes. Notice how the rectangles are more similar in size now that they are sized by the Percent Growth metric. Which subcategory in Electronics has the lowest revenue? 24 Under Metric Filters, under Color: Revenue, move the right-most thumb so that it rests at approximately the $60,000 mark. Notice how the Electronics subcategories become shaded, since they do not fall within this revenue range. 25 Under Metric Filters, select the Filter check box. This action removes the Electronics subcategories from view. 26 Under HeatMap Colors, select Band Colors. 27 Pressing the CTRL key, click inside the red band to add a new thumb. 28 Position the new thumb at approximately the $15,000 mark. 29 Position the right-most thumb at approximately the $30,000 mark.
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30 Double-click the middle range and change the color from red to any blue hue. The interactive pane should display as follows:
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Notice how only the subcategories with the lowest revenue now display in red. Your Heat Map should display as follows:
31 In the interactive pane, under Controls, click Refresh.
32 On the upper-right hand corner, click Dock:
33 Save the document, overwriting the existing document.
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Interactive Bubble Graph

Overview
In this exercise, you will complete the Flash Widgets Dashboard by including an Interactive Bubble Graph widget. When you complete this exercise, your dashboard should resemble the following:
Create the dataset
1 Create a report that contains the following objects on the rows: Month of Year (from the Time folder)
196 Exercises
Region (from the Geography folder) Call Center (from the Geography folder)
2 Add the following objects to the columns: Year (from the Time folder) Revenue per Employee (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder) Profit per Employee (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder) Units Sold (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder)
In the All Objects click Next 30 items (inpane,view) 2to(in List view) orSold Tree find the Units metric. 3 Add a report filter for the Central and South regions. Your template should resemble the following:
4 Run the report. 5 On the Data menu, select Edit Totals. 6 In the Subtotals Editor, click the Advanced tab. 7 Below the Total drop-down list, select Across Level.
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8 Clear the Month of Year check box and select the Call Center check box, as shown below:
9 Click the Display tab. 10 Under Subtotals position by row, select Top of each level. 11 Click OK to exit the Subtotals Editor. The report results should resemble the following image:
12 Save the report to your My Reports folder, naming it Employee Performance.

Modify your existing dashboard
13 Open the Flash Widgets Dashboard in Design Mode. 14 Using the arrows on the panel stack toolbar, switch from the Product Growth Analysis panel to Panel Y. 15 Rename Panel Y, Employee Performance.
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16 On the panel stack toolbar, click Insert and select Report. 17 In the Select Dataset window, in the My Reports folder, select the Employee Performance report. 18 With the Add with formatting check box selected (by default), click OK. report the Your original metric already hasto becorrect attribute and placement converted into an interactive bubble graph widget. Your grid should resemble the following:
19 Right-click the grid and select Properties and Formatting. 20 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 21 Under Widget, in the Selected Widget drop-down list, select Interactive Bubble Graph. 22 Click OK.
Save and run the document
23 Save the document (overwriting the existing document) and run the newly saved document in Flash Mode. 24 To modify the look of the interactive bubble graph, right-click the bubble graph and select Properties. 25 On the General tab, select the Display legend outside of graph check box.
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26 Click the Time Analysis tab. Notice the Enable time series analysis option is enabled by default. Also, notice how you can use the Time Animation Control properties to customize the look of the Play button. 27 On the Drilling tab, select the Enable drilling check box. 28 Click OK to exit the Properties window. The Employee Performance Analysis panel of your dashboard should display as follows:
29 Browse over the bubbles and notice how they represent the Central and South regions for different years. 30 Double-click the January 2009 South bubble (the second top-right bubble). You should see the two new bubbles display that show the individual call centers within that region (Memphis and New Orleans for 2009). The parent bubble that you clicked represents the total for those two call centers.
200 Exercises
enable drilling on Interactive You could alsowidget by includingthecustom group Bubble Graph a in your dataset. Custom groups are MicroStrategy application objects that are made up of individual custom group elements. Each custom group element has its own distinct filtering criteria. For more information on custom groups, refer to the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course or the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting product manual. 31 To test the time animation, move your mouse to the top left corner of the bubble graph until you see the Play button. 32 Click Play to observe the time animation as it moves from month to month.
33 Did the South region maintain good performance through the years? You can spot this type of information quickly when viewing it through an animated bubble graph widget, instead of searching through a grid of metric values. 34 Save the document, replacing the existing version.
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Optional Exercise: Flash Formatting Properties

In this optional exercise, you will use two of the Flash formatting features covered in this lesson to enhance the look of the Flash Widgets Dashboard.
Apply a custom rounded effect
1 With the Flash Widgets Dashboard open in Design Mode, right-click the panel stack and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Effects. 3 Under Corners (Flash Only), notice the Use Rounded Corners check box is already enabled. Use the Rounded Corner Radius slider to change the radius to 7 of 20. 4 Select the Top Corners Only check box. 5 Click OK.
Enable the Change Selection on Mouse Over option
6 Right-click the panel selector at the top of the dashboard and select Properties and Formatting. 7 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 8 Under Selector, select the Change Selection on Mouse Over (Flash Only) check box. 9 Click OK. 10 Save the dashboard (overwriting the existing document) and run the newly saved document.
202 Exercises
11 Observe the formatting changes to the document: Notice that when you place your mouse over the dashboard panels, you automatically see a preview of the panel that you mouse over. Notice the rounded top corners of the panel stack.
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Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: The View, Editable, and Interactive document display modes use DHTML functionality. Running Report Services documents in the DHTML modes has the following benefits: Shorter initial load time Incremental fetch Zero footprint on the client Minimal security issues Smaller output files Best mode for printing, PDF viewing, and archiving Flash Mode uses Adobe Flash technology to provide the following benefits: Immediate interactive response Advanced visualization animations Disconnected operation Unlimited visualization extensibility
204 Exercises
The following are characteristics of documents in Flash Mode: To view documents, you must have a Flash player installed on your computer. In Flash Mode, you can perform basic grid/graph manipulations. Objects such as panel stacks and selectors have a sharper, richer display in Flash Mode, although their function is the same as in the DHTML modes. Not all graphs that are available in the DHTML modes are available in Flash Mode. When you print a document from Flash Mode, some objects may not print due to their interactivity requirements (like Time Series Slider macrographs). You can export a document saved in Flash Mode to MHT format and retain all of its Flash functionality. With MicroStrategy Office, you can render Flash Mode documents in standalone Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. With MicroStrategy Distribution Services, you can subscribe to receive documents that display in Flash Mode by e-mail.
Using MicroStrategys out-of-the-box visualizations, you can include the following types of widgets in your documents: Gauges, Thermometers, and Cylinders for single-value visualizations Time Series Slider Interactive Stacked Graph Heat Map Interactive Bubble Graph
Exercises
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The following are Flash-specific formatting features: Widget formatting Transition animations Change Selection on Mouse Over (for Selectors)
206 Exercises
4
DESIGNING MULTIPANEL DASHBOARDS
Lesson Description
This lesson describes the process for designing a multipanel dashboard and provides a hands-on exercise for creating this type of dashboard from scratch.
207
Designing Multipanel Dashboards
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Understand the process of creating a multipanel, interactive dashboard.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Create a multipanel dashboard, including choosing the appropriate datasets, designing the layout, and building the dashboard. (Page 209)
The Multipanel Dashboard

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Create a multipanel dashboard, including choosing the appropriate datasets, designing the layout, and building the dashboard.
Designing any type of dashboard requires some forethought. However, a multipanel dashboard, with its additional objects and interactivity, requires even more planning. The following topics offer suggestions for creating a multipanel dashboard efficiently.
Consult Your Target Audience

Typically, the most effective dashboards are the ones that target a specific group of users. To satisfy their analysis requirements, you should perform the following tasks: Determine the dashboards overall purpose. This helps you know the level of detail you should include in the dashboard. For example, will the dashboard be used to perform a detailed analysis or will it be used to group together various reports that users would typically view individually? Gather existing dashboards (in Microsoft Access, Excel, or other applications) as examples of what users are already familiar with and are striving to achieve with the Report Services document. Identify common visual paradigms that you can reuse in your dashboard. For example, if Sales Managers are accustomed to seeing sales pipelines depicted as funnel graphs, plan to use these same graph types in your dashboard. Determine if the dashboard targets a larger audience, in which case you need to consider how security filters or prompts might come into play in the dashboards design.
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In gathering requirements for the dashboard, determine if the dashboard needs to be printable in PDF (in other words, determine the desired output formats). Also, determine if the dashboard needs to be available offline. If so, it needs to be convertible to Flash. When polling the target audience, identify what portion of the data needs to be represented. For example, do users need to see year-to-date information, current quarter information, preceding 6 months data, or some other time frame?
Gather Related Datasets

After you have a clear idea of the purpose of the dashboard, determine which reports you need on hand to serve as datasets for the document. Study your existing MicroStrategy reports to see if they can be used in your dashboard. Identify any new reports that you need to create specifically for the dashboard. Determine which related topics users might need to view on a single dashboard. Try to have at least one common attribute among the datasets. If you have existing traditional/static dashboards, consider combining them into a multipanel interactive dashboard.
210 The Multipanel Dashboard
Devise the Investigative Workflow of the Dashboard

When you know which datasets you need for the dashboard, you can start imagining the analytic workflow as well as the interactivity between the datasets and potential selectors. Poll your target audience to gather feedback on how users want to study the dashboard and potentially investigate other areas or levels of detail beyond the initial output. Polling your audience is very much an iterative process whereby certain requirements may eventually lead to additional requirements, and so on, and so on. Sketch a draft of the investigative workflow in another application, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, to identify how users should navigate through the different layers of data and how they should interact with individual grid/graphs. For example, would users benefit from the ability to choose a particular element on a graph? Also, look for areas where prompts were originally defined on reports and consider replacing these prompts with selectors. Beyond the layers or tabs of the dashboard, consider if users need links to provide them access to even more detailed reports.
Build the Dashboard

Work in MicroStrategy Web to create the initial panel stacks, selectors, and other objects that comprise the dashboard. Testing the interactivity of these objects is easier in MicroStrategy Web than MicroStrategy Desktop, although Desktop does provide HTML preview and Flash preview display modes. As you build the dashboard, remember to assign the document objects meaningful names. By doing this, you can identify and select the objects more easily as the dashboard becomes more complex.
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When you need to select and modify certain objects in the document, use the Document Structure pane. This pane provides a tree-style view of the document contents and makes it easier to see the objects that are associated with each layer of the document. Consider delivering draft versions to your target audience as you continually build the dashboard. You can make adjustments along the way and leave most of the detailed formatting as the last step in the dashboard creation process.
212 The Multipanel Dashboard
Exercise
Multipanel Flash Dashboard
This exercise is loosely modeled after the Human Resources Analysis Dashboard located in the Human Resources Analysis Module project in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. When you complete the exercise, your dashboard should resemble the following images:
Headcount Summary Panel
Exercise
213
Attrition/Hiring Summary Panel
214 Exercise
Compensation Summary Panel
The exercise walks you through the following tasks: Identify the datasets to include in the dashboard Devise an investigative workflow Build the dashboard including panels and panel stacks, selectors, grids/graphs, and so on
Identify the Datasets

Imagine that you have gathered feedback from the dashboard user group and you have determined that the HR Analysis dashboard should meet the following data requirements: The dashboards main purpose is to provide access to many human resources-related reports in a single document. Users do not necessarily need to see very detailed views of the business, but they do want to be able to interact with certain grids, graphs, and widgets.
Exercise
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The dashboard should display three distinct panels that offer different views of the human resources-related data, including the following: Headcount Attrition/Hiring Compensation
You have identified the following reports, which already exist in your MicroStrategy project: Headcount - KPIs (Primary) Headcount vs. Planned - Monthly Trend Headcount by Department Headcount by Region Attrition - Quarterly Trends Hiring - Quarterly Trends Hires by Recruiting Sources - Quarter Compensation - Quarterly Trends Compensation by Department Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends
you valuable and to To saveon dashboard exercise timedatasetsfocus your efforts creation, the are prebuilt and available to you through the Human Resources Analysis Module project. Even though you are not tasked with creating the datasets, you should study their contents to better understand the source data for the dashboard you create in this exercise.
216 Exercise
Devise an Investigative Workflow - Dashboard Overview

With input from the dashboard user group, you identify the following analysis requirements: Headcount Summary tab Select KPIs related to headcount, based on the Headcount - KPIs dataset Time Series Slider widget based on the Headcount vs. Planned - Monthly Trend dataset Headcount by Department and Headcount by Region graphs, with a radio button selector that enables you to switch between these graphs Attrition/Hiring Summary tab Attrition Quarterly Trends and Hiring Quarterly Trends combination charts, with a radio button selector that enables you to switch between these charts Interactive Stacked Graph widget that shows the Hires by Recruiting Sources data Compensation Summary tab Compensation - Quarterly Trends stacked bar chart, with a check boxes selector that enables you to select elements of the Compensation Item Compensation by Department grid that controls the Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends area chart
Exercise
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The following is a rough sketch of the layout and functionality of the dashboard, according to the three panels:
Headcount Panel
218 Exercise
Attrition/Hiring Panel
Compensation Panel
Exercise
219
From these images, you can try creating the dashboard to match the requirements without additional guidance. If you prefer to follow specific instructions, you can build the dashboard with the steps outlined in the next section.
Build the Dashboard - Detailed Instructions

The focus of this exercise is to understand the flow of the dashboard and to appropriately define its interactivity using selectors, panel stacks, and grids/graphs. The precise sizing and positioning of the dashboards objects is less important in this exercise, but some of these specifications are provided as a guideline to help you produce the dashboard as it displays at the beginning of the exercise. You can also use the images throughout the exercise to help you size and position your document objects. The following procedure lists the steps to build the dashboard:
Begin creating the document
1 On the MicroStrategy Web home page, click the Human Resources Analysis Module project. 2 Log in using the login name and password provided to you by your instructor. 3 Create a new document, using the 01 Blank Dashboard template. 4 In the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards\Datasets\Human Resources Analysis Dashboard folder, add the Headcount - KPIs report as a dataset. 5 Add a text box on the top left corner of the placeholder panel stack and type Human Resources Analysis as the title of the dashboard. Format, size, and position the text box as follows:
Title Text Box Properties
Property Font Left Definition Tahoma, 14-point, bold, black 0
220 Exercise
Title Text Box Properties

Property Top Width Height Definition 0 2.75 0.25
6 On the placeholder panel stack, add a new panel stack that covers the entire placeholder and has the following properties:
Main Panel Stack Properties
Property Name Left Top Definition Main Panel Stack 0 0.25
It is recommended that you assign document objects, such as panel stacks, grid/graphs, and
even text boxes, meaningful names so that you can locate them by name after the document contains many similar objects. Also, the width and height of the panel stack should size automatically to fit the space under the title text box within the placeholder panel stack. 7 Use the Main Panel Stacks toolbar to rename the current panel for this panel stack as Headcount Summary. 8 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it HR Analysis. to save frequently Rememberdashboard. as you continue to design the 9 Run the newly saved document and switch to Design Mode.
Exercise
221
Create the top portion of the Headcount panel
10 Add the following static text boxes to the upper left area of the Headcount Summary panel to form the KPIs section: KPIs title text box (in boldface type) Headcount label text box Part-time label text box Full-time label text box Planned Headcount label text box #s label text box (in boldface type)
11 Add dynamic text boxes for the following numbers: Headcount={[Employees - current]} Part-time={[Part-time Employees - current]} Full-time={[Full-time Employees - current]} Planned Headcount={[Planned Headcount current]}
Left align the dynamic text boxes.

12 Switch to Flash Mode. The KPIs section should resemble the following image:
the alignment and Use format this section duplicate features to helpif you quickly and easily. Also, you lose track of a text box along the way, use the Document Structure pane to locate it and make sure that it displays under the correct panel stack.
222 Exercise
13 Save the document, replacing the existing version, and open it again in Design Mode.
Add another dataset and a widget to the document
14 With the Main Panel Stack selected, on the Insert menu, insert a new report. 15 Use the cross-hairs cursor to place the report to the right of the text boxes on the Headcount Summary panel of the Main Panel Stack. yellow lines to Look for theSummary panelsurround thePanel Headcount in the Main Stack. These lines show that the grid/graph is now associated with this panel. 16 In the Select Dataset window, in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards\Datasets\Human Resources Analysis Dashboard folder, select the Headcount vs. Planned - Monthly Trend report and click OK. should automatically be the The reportwith formatting, becauseadded towith document the Add formatting check box is selected by default in the Select Dataset window. 17 Name the new grid TSS widget. 18 Size and position it to take up the right portion of the panel, or to match these specifications:
Headcount vs. Planned Graph Properties
Property Left Top Width Height Definition 2 .125 7.4 2.4
19 Use the graphs properties to have it display as a Time Series Slider widget in Flash Mode.
Exercise
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20 On the Tools menu, use Document Properties to define Flash as the default display mode for the document. 21 Save the document, replacing the existing version, and run the newly saved document. When you select the entire time frame in the controller for the Time Series Slider widget, the document should display in Flash Mode as follows:
Create a nested panel stack on the Headcount panel
22 Switch to Design Mode. 23 Using the Main Panel Stacks toolbar, insert a panel stack that covers the bottom portion of the Headcount Summary panel:
Nested Panel Stack Properties
Property Name Left Top Definition Nested Panel Stack 0 2.875
224 Exercise
Nested Panel Stack Properties

Property Width Height Definition 9.4479 3.1354
width and should automatically Theplaceholderheight stack. Your width andsize to fit the panel properties may vary slightly from those listed above. 24 Rename the current panel for this panel stack Department Breakdown. 25 In the Department Breakdown panel, click Add Content and select Report. 26 In the Select Dataset window, in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards\Datasets\Human Resources Analysis Dashboard folder, select the Headcount by Department report and click OK. 27 In the Headcount by Department grid, right-click various metrics and select Remove from Grid, removing them so that only the following objects display in the grid:
28 Right-click the Headcount by Department grid, point to View Mode, and select Graph View.
Exercise
225
Your document in Design Mode should now display as follows:
Add another panel and graph to the Nested Panel Stack
29 With the Nested Panel Stack selected, add a new panel and name this panel Regional Breakdown. 30 In the Regional Breakdown panel, click Add Content and select Report. 31 In the Select Dataset window, in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards\Datasets\Human Resources Analysis Dashboard folder, select the Headcount by Region report and click OK. 32 In the Headcount by Region grid, right-click various metrics and select Remove from Grid, removing them so that only the following objects display in the grid:
226 Exercise
33 Right-click the Headcount by Region grid, point to View Mode, and select Graph View. 34 On the Nested Panel Stack, disable the title bar.
Add a panel selector for the Nested Panel Stack
target is enabled By default, automatic meansmaintenance not have to for this exercise. This that you will select a specific target and that it will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected target is the correct one. 35 With the Main Panel Stack selected, on the Insert menu, insert a radio button style selector immediately above the Nested Panel Stack and define it with the following properties: Action Type: Select Panel Target: Nested Panel Stack
Exercise
227
36 Save the document and view it in Flash Mode. Your dashboard should now resemble the following image:
Create the Main Panel Stacks selector
37 Switch to Design Mode. 38 Using the Main Panel Stacks toolbar, add a new panel and name it Attrition/Hiring Summary. 39 Use the Insert menu to create a new link bar style selector, which serves as the tabs on the top right of the dashboard.
228 Exercise
40 Place the link bar selector on the placeholder, above the Main Panel Stack and next to the title text box. The selector should have the following properties:
Link Bar Selector Properties
Property Name Action Type Target Left Top Width Height Definition Link Bar Selector Select Panel Main Panel Stack 2.7396 0 6.75 .25 (keep as Fit to contents)
41 Format the selector so that is uses a Grey-25% fill color. 42 To achieve the tab look, right-click the selector, point to Order, and select Send Backward. This action hides the lower borders of the selector so that the options look more like individual tabs. The document should resemble the following image:
Create the top portion of the Attrition/Hiring Summary panel
43 On the Attrition/Hiring Summary panel, click Add Content and select Panel Stack. 44 Define the new panel stack with the following properties:
Combo Graph Panel Stack Properties
Property Name Top Height Definition Combo Graph Panel Stack 0.3 2.85
Exercise
229
45 Rename the current panel of this panel stack as Attrition. 46 On the Attrition panel, click Add Content and select Report. 47 In the Add Dataset window, in the same folder location, select the Attrition - Quarterly Trends report and click OK. In Design Mode, the document should display as follows:
48 Using the Combo Graph Panel Stacks toolbar, add a new panel and name it Hiring. 49 On the Hiring panel, click Add Content and select Report. 50 In the Select Dataset window, in the same folder location, select the Hiring - Quarterly Trends report and click OK.
Add a selector for the Combo Graph Panel Stack
51 With the Attrition or Hiring panel selected, using the Insert menu, add a radio buttons style selector.
230 Exercise
52 Place it immediately above the Combo Graph Panel Stack (with the Hiring panel in view) and define it with the following properties:
Radio Buttons Selector Properties
Property Name Action Type Target Left Top Width Height Definition Combo Graph Panel Stack Selector Select Panel Combo Graph Panel Stack 0 0 2.5 .25 (keep as Fit to contents)
53 Disable the Combo Graph Panel Stacks title bar. 54 Save the document and run it in Flash Mode. The Attrition/Hiring Summary panel of your dashboard should resemble the following image:
Exercise
231
Create the bottom portion of the Attrition/Hiring panel
55 Switch to Design Mode. 56 In the Dataset Objects pane, add the Hires by Recruiting Sources - Quarter dataset to the document. 57 With the Main Panel Stack selected, on the bottom half of the Attrition/Hiring Summary panel, add the Hires by Recruiting Sources - Quarter graph without formatting. 58 Pivot the Recruiting Source attribute to the columns of the grid so that it displays as follows:
59 Using the grids properties, define the grid to display as an Interactive Stacked Graph widget.
232 Exercise
60 Save the document and view it in Flash Mode. It should resemble the following image:
The image above shows the document with 100% zoom factor.
Create the top portion of the Compensation Summary panel
61 Switch to Design Mode. 62 Use the Main Panel Stacks toolbar (the Attrition/Hiring Summary should be in view) to add a new panel and name it Compensation Summary. 63 On the Compensation Summary panel, click Add Content and select Report. 64 In the Select Dataset window, in the same folder location, select the Compensation - Quarterly Trends report.
Exercise
233
65 The graph should take up only the top half of the Compensation Summary panel, with the following sizing and positioning properties:
Compensation - Quarterly Trends Graph Properties
Property Left Top Width Height Definition 0 0 9.461 2.67
66 Using the Main Panel Stacks toolbar, insert a check boxes style selector immediately below the Compensation - Quarterly Trends graph, defined with the following properties:
Check Boxes Selector Properties
Property Action Type Source Target Definition Select Attribute Element Compensation Item Compensation - Quarterly Trends graph (this should be the grid/graph with the highest number in its name)
Show option Enabled for All
As an optional formatting step, apply a gradient fill color to the selector wherehorizontal Color 1 is white and Color 2 is a Grey-40%.
234 Exercise
67 Save the document and view it in Flash Mode. It should resemble the following image:
the (ALL) check box to Selecton the graph, as shown display all compensation items above.
Create the bottom portion of the Compensation Summary panel
68 Switch to Design Mode. 69 Add the following datasets to the document: Compensation by Department Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends
70 With the Main Panel Stack (Compensation Summary panel) selected, add the Compensation by Department grid with formatting to the bottom-left side of the Compensation Summary panel. yellow Look for thethe gridlines surrounding the panel to ensure that is associated with the Compensation Summary panel.
Exercise
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71 Add the Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends graph with formatting to the bottom right of the Compensation Summary panel. In Design Mode, the document should display as follows:
72 The Department attribute in the Compensation by Department grid will control the output of the Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends graph. To accomplish this, select the Compensation by Department grid. 73 Right-click the Department attribute and select Select Targets. 74 In target selection mode, select the Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends graph and click the green check mark button.
236 Exercise
Apply formatting in Editable Mode
75 Switch to Editable Mode. 76 Click Restore Normal Screen Mode.
77 Select the Compensation by Department grid. 78 Use the Grid toolbar to change the autostyle from (Custom) to Small Type. Small Type autostyle toward of Thelist. Hover your mouseisover eachthe bottom to the autostyle see its name. 79 In the Compensation by Department grid, right-click the following metrics and select Remove from Grid: Percent to Grand Total (Compensation Cost) Avg. Salary
80 On the Main Panel Stack, disable the title bar.
Exercise
237
81 Save the document and run the newly saved document in Flash Mode. It should resemble the following image:
Test the interactivity of the document
82 On the Headcount Summary panel, use the Time Series Slider controller to change the time frame for the widget. 83 Use the radio button selector to switch from Department Breakdown to Regional Breakdown. 84 On the Attrition/Hiring Summary panel, use the radio button selector to toggle the attrition and hiring combination graphs. 85 On the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, pressing the CTRL key, under the Recruiting Source column, select each recruiting source element one-by-one to see how it plots on the area chart and compares to the total for all recruiting sources. 86 On the Compensation Summary panel, use the check boxes element selector to plot as many compensation items on the stacked bar chart as you like.
238 Exercise
87 On the Compensation by Department grid, click any single department and study the results on the Compensation by Department - Quarterly Trends graph.
Observations
In this exercise, you learned: How to design a multipanel dashboard How to use different types of selectors How to embed panel stacks within larger panel stacks to provide more levels of interactivity How to include widgets in a multipanel dashboard
You could format the dashboard further by changing the graph colors to follow the same theme, increasing the text size of the graph labels, adding legends to the graphs, and so on. To help users distinguish the different sections of each panel and to help them identify the selectors that control each grid/graph or panel stack, early in the document creation process, you could also apply rectangles to show colored backdrops for these sections.
Exercise
239
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: The process of creating a multipanel dashboard involves the following steps: Consulting your target audience Gathering related datasets Devising the investigative workflow Building the dashboard
240 Lesson Summary
5
GRAPHS IN DOCUMENTS
Lesson Description
This lesson focuses on teaching you about the graph types that work best for certain types of reports. It also presents several graph formatting properties that help you display sophisticated graphs within your Report Services documents.
241
Graphs in Documents
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the best graph types for different types of reports and apply graph formatting features to graphs in documents.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Design the most effective graphs for documents. (Page 243) Use the best possible graph styles for different types of reports. (Page 245) Describe the formatting properties for graphs within Report Services documents and some additional formatting features. (Page 255)
Graphs in Documents
Design Recommendations for Graphs

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Design the most effective graphs for documents.
Selecting the best graph type to visually represent report data is easier said than done. Document designers often choose graph types that do not represent the data in a clear, concise manner. Besides using the wrong graph types, they might also include too few labels, distracting background visuals, and overly precise numbers. The following suggestions should help guide you in designing effective graphs, particularly for dashboards: based on the The recommendations listed below are of Information ideas put forth by Stephen Few, author Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. For more information on this publication, see Works Cited starting on page 425. Use pie charts sparingly (only 5% of the time)Despite its popularity, a pie chart can be difficult to interpret, particularly if its sections are not well labeled. Pie charts are most effective when representing data that shows parts of a whole. But, users often employ them to depict other types of data, which renders them even less effective. As a general rule, unless you are specifically analyzing the parts of a whole, use bar charts instead of pie charts. When screen space is precious, use thermometers instead of gauges and dialsThermometers convey the message just as clearly as gauges and dials but take up less space. Round numbers on graph labelsWhen you include values on graphs, avoid displaying too many decimals. The longer the value, the longer it takes for users to interpret it.
Design Recommendations for Graphs
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Graphs in Documents
Use caution with 3-D effects and distracting backgrounds on graphsDepending on the data, using a 3-D effect within a graph (particularly on 3-D bar graphs), can sometimes block the users view of the additional bars of data. When bars are shorter, they are easily obscured by taller bars. Also, keep the graph background as simple as possible. Using background images or colorful gradients distracts the eye and detracts from the graphs effectiveness. Downplay the non-data visuals and emphasize the most important dataFor non-data visuals, like grid lines, scales, and so forth, either use light grey lines or disable them completely so that they do not distract the user from interpreting the actual data. Also, consider using color intensities or hues to emphasize the most important row, bar, or column of data, while minimizing attention to the other data elements and non-data elements. Stick with a graph style that worksResist the temptation to use a wide variety of graph types on a dashboard just for the sake of showing variety. Your message is most effective when you use the correct graph type and employ it repeatedly so that users can interpret the data quickly. Using many different graph types on a single dashboard only causes your users to work harder at deciphering the data. The harder they have to work to understand the dashboard, the less likely they are to adopt it. Label scales and graph sections for context and use tooltips when you need to provide more detailLabels give the right amount of context and they make it easier for users to understand the data. Tooltips, which display when you hover your mouse over a particular object, show the numbers that each section in a graph represents. Tooltips provide valuable information without taking up any screen space.
244 Design Recommendations for Graphs
Graphs in Documents
Best Uses for Graph Types

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use the best possible graph styles for different types of reports.
Choosing the right graph to go with your reports can be challenging. However, if you want to get the message across as clearly as possible to your users, selecting the correct graph type is key. Picking the right graphical representation often depends not only on what type of data you have on your report but also how much data you need to display within the graph. The subtopics in this section explain the different classifications of business reports and the graph types that best represent their data. this section are based on Say The topics inExecutives Guide to Visual It With Charts: The Communication by Gene Zelazny. For more information on this publication, see Works Cited starting on page 425. the graph in To view examples ofcan run anystyles availablestored in MicroStrategy, you of the reports the Public Objects\Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\Graph Styles folder of the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.
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Graphs in Documents
Component Comparisons
Component comparisons are reports that show percent-to-total comparisons. These types of reports focus on the size of each part as compared to the total. Pie charts can be effective for displaying this type of data. However, as mentioned previously, use pie charts sparingly and be sure to label the individual pie sections well so that users can quickly discern the different sizes of the sections. Also, you should keep the number of components to six or fewer, so as not to confuse your users with too many sections. The image below shows a pie with only four, well-labeled slices:
Pie Chart that Displays the Parts of a Whole
When you want to compare components of more than one total, rather than employing multiple pie charts, use a vertical bar chart (also called a column chart). Unlike pie sections, which can be easily misinterpreted if the pie slices are roughly equal in size, vertical bars are much easier to distinguish in terms of the numeric values they represent. Given this, vertical bars require less labeling and are quicker to interpret and compare.
246 Best Uses for Graph Types
Graphs in Documents
The vertical bar chart below displays each categorys contribution to all revenue as well as its contribution to all units sold:
Vertical Bar Chart for Components of More Than One Total
At quick glance, you can see how the Electronics category contributes the most to all revenue and yet, in terms of units sold, it falls below the other categories.
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Graphs in Documents
Compare the vertical bar chart with the same data displayed in multiple pie charts, as shown below:
Multiple Pie Charts for Components of More Than One Total
Notice with the pie chart that you must list the values for each pie slice. Otherwise, it is difficult to discern how much each category contributes to all revenue and units sold. In the previous example, because the bars line up against the easy-to-read axis, users can interpret the bar values and compare them to each other at a glance.
Item Comparisons
Item comparisons are reports that show ranking of individual items compared to one another. For ranks, the best graph type is the horizontal bar chart (also called a horizontal column chart). The individual bars highlight the ranked items so that users can differentiate them quickly and easily. You can use shading to emphasize the most important item, if there is one item that deserves more attention than the rest. You can also use sorting so that the highest item in the rank displays first or last (depending on your sort order).
Graphs in Documents
You can also add numbers to the scale on the side of the chart, or show values at the ends of the bars. However, you should avoid showing both sets of figures (on scales and at the ends of the bars) because the final display might seem too cluttered. When including values, remember to round out your decimals to make it easier for users to quickly understand the figures. The horizontal bar chart below displays the top 5 suppliers for the Books category:
Horizontal Bar Chart for Ranking Top Suppliers
Notice how the bars are sorted to show the top ranked supplier first. Also notice how the graph shows the values for each bar.
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Graphs in Documents
Time Series Comparisons

Vertical bar charts or line charts are best for time series comparisons. If you have just a few points in time to plot (for example, four quarters in a year), use a vertical bar chart, as shown below:
Vertical Bar Chart for Quarterly Comparison
Graphs in Documents
However, when you need to compare more than eight points in time (for example, all the months of the year), you should use a line chart, as shown below:
Line Chart for Multiple Time Series Comparisons
rule, when you have more As a general bar charts to line charts. data to show, switch from
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Graphs in Documents
You can also use surface area charts for time series comparisons, but limit the segments to five or less and place the most important segment against the straight base line, as shown below:
Surface Area Chart for Time Series Comparisons
Frequency Distribution Comparisons

Frequency distribution comparisons are reports that show how many items fall into a series of progressive numerical ranges. For example, a report might need to show how many customers have income less than $40,000, how many earn between $40,000 and $60,000, and so forth. These types of reports are generally used for tracking demographic information. Frequency distribution comparisons are best displayed with step-column charts (also called histograms) or line charts (histographs). These types of charts use two scales and often display as a bell-shaped curve.
Graphs in Documents
In the example below, the histogram shows the order size as compared to the number of customers. You can see how the bars take on the approximate shape of the bell curve.
Histogram: Orders Placed by Customers
display the curve is to An alternative to(histograph) bell-shapedthe curved use a line chart and enable lines option, which you will learn about later in this lesson.
Correlation Comparisons
Correlation comparisons show whether the relationship between two variables follows or fails to follow the pattern you would normally expect. These reports are best displayed with dot charts (also called scatter plots) or bubble charts, because the various dots or bubbles represent each of the different data points. In addition, bubble charts enable you to use the bubbles size to show one metrics value and its position on the chart to show another metrics value.
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Graphs in Documents
In the example shown below, the bubble chart plots each customers position with respect to their overall satisfaction and revenue. The size of the bubble indicates the customers income.
Bubble Chart - Revenue vs. Satisfaction and Income
Summary
No matter which graph type you choose, you should be consistent when using graphs in documents. A document that displays too many different types of graphs can confuse users, or at a minimum, can require more effort on their part to understand what each graph means. Also, when possible, include a meaningful title for your graph. Rather than using a generic description, such as Sales by Region, choose a focus for the graph and announce it in the graphs title. If you want people to notice that sales are best in the West region, name the graph West excels in Sales. This way, you are sure to get the right message across to your users in an instant.
Graphs in Documents
Graph Formatting
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe the formatting properties for graphs within Report Services documents and some additional formatting features.
When you create graphs in documents, you can take advantage of the following formatting features: Transparency effect Curved lines Bevel effects Data tooltips
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Transparency Effect
You can adjust the transparency on a graph to make bars in a bar chart, pie slices in a pie chart, or areas in an absolute area chart appear more translucent. The transparency property applies to graph series and graph legends. In the image shown below, the areas of the area chart are easy to distinguish since you can see right through them. In fact, without the transparency effect, the order of the areas might cause one to be hidden by the other:
Transparency in a Graph Series
To apply transparency to a graph in a document:
1 With the document open in Editable Mode, select the graph to which you want to apply the transparency effect.
The graph must display in Graph View or Grid and Graph View.
2 On the Format menu, select Graph. 3 In the Format: Graph window, click the Format tab. 4 In the Format drop-down list, select Series Colors.
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5 In the next drop-down list, select the specific series to format. 6 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, specify the background color for the selected graph series. 7 Under Transparency, slide the needle on the bar to the desired transparency setting, as shown below:
As you slide the needle, the percentage of transparency displays in a tooltip. When you set the transparency to a low percentage, the colors of the object display brighter and more solid. When you set the transparency to a high percentage, the colors seem more faded. 8 Click OK.
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Curved Lines
When you format a graph that contains lines, such as a Line, Area, Polar, or Radar graph, you can specify whether the lines in the graph are straight (default) or curved. In many cases, curved lines provide these line and area graphs with a more attractive look and feel, as shown below:
Curved Line Graph Example
lines most effective when densely Curved data. arethere are too few datagraphingthe packed If points, curved line might show trends in a misleading manner.
To apply curved lines to a graph in a document:
1 With the document open in Editable Mode, select the graph to which you want to apply the curved line effect.
2 On the Format menu, select Graph. 3 In the Format: Graph window, click the General tab.
Graphs in Documents
4 Select the Use curved lines check box, as shown below:
5 Click OK.
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Bevel Effects
Documents that display in the DHTML modes (Editable Mode, Interactive Mode, and View Mode) can show graphs with a bevel effect. In the image below, the graph on the left shows the chiseled edge bevel effect while the graph on the right has no bevel effect:
Bevel Effect in a Graph
The bars with the bevel effect seem raised.

To apply a bevel effect on a graph in a document:
1 With the document open in Editable Mode, select the graph to which you want to apply the bevel effect.
2 On the Format menu, select Graph. 3 In the Format: Graph window, click the Format tab. 4 In the Format drop-down list, select Series Colors. 5 In the next drop-down list, select the specific series to format.
Graphs in Documents
6 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, specify the background color for the selected graph series. 7 In the Effects drop-down list, select the desired bevel effect, as shown below:
apply the Donut and Sphere effects You can (a Pie graph, for example), polygonalto(aall circular Radar graph, for example), or rectangular (a Bar graph, for example) types of graphs. However, you cannot apply the Smooth and Chiseled Edge effects to any circular types of graphs. 8 Click OK.
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Data Tooltips on Graphs

Tooltips display pop-up text when a user positions the mouse over an object in MicroStrategy Web. Tooltips are useful when you need to provide detailed information on a document, but you do not want that information to take up valuable screen space. you can view Remember thatWeb and not intooltips only in Excel. MicroStrategy PDF or Microsoft Furthermore, tooltips do not display in a Firefox Web browser. By including tooltips on a graph, you help your users investigate the values behind the bars, pie slices, and so forth. For example, when you hover the mouse over a bar in a bar graph, a tooltip displays the name of the series (the bar) and the data value for that specific bar on the graph. In the image below, a tooltip displays when you hover the mouse over a data point in a line graph:
Data Tooltips on a Line Graph
Graphs in Documents
To enable tooltips on a graph in a document:
1 With the document open in Editable Mode, select the graph to which you want to enable tooltips.
2 On the Format menu, select Graph. 3 In the Format: Graph window, click the Format tab. 4 In the Format drop-down list, select Series Values. 5 In the next drop-down list, select All Data Values or select the specific series for which you want to enable tooltips. 6 Select the Tooltips check box, as shown below:
the Tooltips check box is WhenValues, tooltips display forselected for All on Data all data values the graph. 7 Click OK.
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Quick Switch and Portal Window

In the MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials course, you learned about the Quick Switch and Portal Window features. You can apply these features to grids and graphs in documents.
Quick Switch
Quick Switch enables users to instantly switch a grid/graph from Grid view to Graph view and vice versa. When you enable this feature on a grid/graph in a document and you run the document in Interactive, Editable, or Flash Mode, the Quick Switch button displays on the grid/graph, as shown below:
Quick Switch Example
Graphs in Documents
Portal Window
The Portal Window feature enables users to maximize or minimize a grid/graph on a document by selecting the appropriate buttons on the grid/graphs title bar. In the example shown below, the Financial Analysis dashboard contains several graphs, all of which have the portal window option enabled. By selecting the minimize or maximize buttons on the upper right-hand corner of each graph, you can hide or show the individual graphs on the page:
Graphs with the Portal Window Feature Enabled
Additional Formatting Features

You can apply the following formatting features to grid/graph objects and to other document objects as well: Gradients Drop shadows 3D borders
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Gradients
Gradients enable you to blend two colors to show a gradual color change in the background of a graph. You can apply gradients to the following document objects: Grid/graphs Text boxes Rectangles Sections Panel stacks Selectors
When using a gradient, you can choose a shading style, which determines the direction for the color blend (top to bottom, left to right, and so forth). The graph below has a background gradient with a vertical shading style:
Gradient Variant Example
Notice how the background blends gradually from a lighter grey at the top to a darker grey at the bottom. that display in Flash Documentsdirectional display. Mode can use a three-way
Graphs in Documents
To apply a gradient to the background of a graph in a document:
1 With the document open in Editable Mode, select the graph to which you want to apply a gradient.
2 On the Format menu, select Graph. 3 In the Format: Graph window, click the Format tab. 4 With Format selected in the first drop-down list, In the next drop-down list, select Background. 5 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, select Gradients. 6 In the Gradients window, under Colors, select colors for Colors 1 and 2. 7 Under Shading Styles, select the desired shading direction. 8 Click OK.
Drop Shadows
Drop shadows help make objects seem as if they are floating above their background, or they can make objects seem deeper. You can apply drop shadows to the following document objects: Grid/graphs Images Lines Rectangles and rounded rectangles Text boxes
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Panel stacks Selectors
The following image shows a graph with a drop shadow effect:

Drop Shadow Effect on a Graph
Notice above how the graph casts a darker grey shadow against the lighter grey background.
To apply a drop shadow to a grid/graph in a document:
1 Open the document in Design Mode. 2 Select the graph or grid to which you want to apply the drop shadow. 3 Right-click the grid/graph and select Properties and Formatting. 4 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Effects. 5 Select the Enable Drop Shadows check box.
Graphs in Documents
6 Under Distance, use the slider to adjust the thickness of the drop shadow, as shown below:
3D Borders
The 3D borders option is also available in the Effects section of the Properties and Formatting window (as shown above). When you apply a 3D border, you give the object the effect of being raised or sunken (like a button). You also assign a weight to the 3D border to specify how raised or sunken the object should display. In the example below, the Manager Performance text box has a 3D border with the raised effect and a weight of 4:
You can apply a 3D border to the following document objects: Grid/graphs Images Rectangles and rounded rectangles Panel stacks
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Selectors Text boxes
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Exercise
Graphs in a Dashboard
Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with several graph formatting properties. It also gives you more practice with formatting panels and selectors. After you complete the exercise, your final document should resemble the following:
In this dashboard, you can select a category, which controls the three graphs. You can also select a month of year to display on the line graph. If you want to create the document without following the detailed instructions, you can use the following guidelines:
2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercise
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Use the 02 Title and Content dashboard template to create the document. In the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Sales Review folder, use the following reports as datasets: Revenue by Day Revenue by Region Top 4 Suppliers by Revenue
The title of the dashboard is Sales Review. Add the Revenue by Day dataset with formatting to the bottom half of the placeholder panel stack. Add the Top 4 Suppliers by Revenue dataset with formatting to the top left of the placeholder. Add the Revenue by Region with formatting to the top right of the placeholder. Add a button bar Category element selector that targets all three graphs. The selector should enable users to select the total. The selector uses a 3-D border effect.
Add a drop-down list Month of Year element selector that targets the Revenue by Day graph. The selector does not display the (All) option.
Apply a vertical gradient to the placeholder panel stack. Apply the following formatting changes to the Revenue by Day line graph: Apply the curved lines effect. Set the categories to 31 to show all of the days of each month on the graph.
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Apply the following formatting changes to the Revenue by Region horizontal bar graph: Apply the chiseled edge effect to the bar series. Apply 20% transparency to the bar series.
Change the font size for all of the graphs to 8 point. Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Sales Review.
The document in Design Mode displays as follows:
Create the document
1 Create a new document, using the 02 Title and Content dashboard template. 2 Add the following datasets, located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Sales Review folder:
Revenue by Day
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Revenue by Region Top 4 Suppliers by Revenue
you can In the Select Dataset window, datasets press the CTRL key and multiselect the to add them to the document simultaneously.
Add a title
3 In the Layout area, double-click the top-most text box and type Sales Review as the title.
Add the datasets with formatting to the placeholder panel stack
4 In the Layout area, on the placeholder panel stack, add each of the datasets with formatting and position them as shown below:
The Top 4 Suppliers by Revenue dataset is the top left pie chart, the Revenue by Region dataset is the top right horizontal bar chart, and the Revenue by Day line graph is the bottom graph.
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on computers screen resolution, Dependingwantyourchange the Zoom factor to 75% you might to to see the entire Layout area as you add the graphs. Make sure to leave space at the top of the placeholder and between the top and bottom graphs for the selectors. You can multiselect the graphs, right-click, and use the alignment and sizing options to position and size the graphs quickly.
Add the Category element selector
5 Click any white space in the Layout area. 6 In the Dataset Objects window, under the Revenue by Day dataset, right-click Category and select Add Element Selector. 7 Place the selector at the top of the placeholder, above the two top graphs and size it to take up the width of the placeholder panel stack. 8 Use the selectors Properties and Formatting window to define the following:
Property DHTML Style Orientation
Definition Button Bar Horizontal
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Property Targets Show option for Total Show option for All
Definition Revenue by Day, Revenue by Region, Top 5 Suppliers by Revenue Enabled Disabled
checkbox, The enable Show option for Totalas a filter you need to disable Apply selections checkbox first. 9 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Sales Review. 10 Run the newly saved document, which should display in Interactive Mode as follows:
Add the Month of Year element selector
11 Switch to Design Mode.
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12 Click any white space in the Layout area. 13 In the Dataset Objects window, under the Revenue by Day dataset, right-click Month of Year and select Add Element Selector. 14 Place the selector above the line graph and size it to take up about half of the width of the pie graph above it, as shown below:
15 Define the Month of Year drop-down selector so that it targets the Revenue by Day graph and it does not show the (All) option.
Apply a gradient to the panel stack in Editable Mode
16 Switch to Editable Mode. 17 Right-click the placeholder panel stack and select Properties and Formatting. 18 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Colors and Lines. 19 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, select Gradients.
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20 In the Gradients window, in the Color 1 drop-down list, select Grey-40%. 21 Under Shading Styles, select Vertical. 22 Click OK to exit the Gradients window. 23 Click OK to exit the Properties and Formatting window.
Apply 3-D border effect to the Category element selector
24 In the toolbar, click Restore Normal Screen Mode:
25 On the Tools menu, select Document Structure. 26 In the Document Structure pane, expand PanelStack1 and select Selector47 (the button bar selector). Category element Your abutton bar number. Generally,selector may have different you should always rename your document objects so that they are easier to identify when you want to select and modify them. 27 In the Layout area, right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 28 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Effects. 29 Under 3D Borders, select the Enable 3D Borders check box. 30 Keep the Effect as Raised and the Weight as 2 and click OK. 31 Save the document again, replacing the existing version. 32 Run the newly saved document and switch to Editable Mode.
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Format the line graph
33 Right-click the Revenue by Day line graph and select Format. 34 In the Format: Graph window, on the General tab, under Maximum, in the Categories box, type 31. 35 Select the Use curved lines check box. 36 Click Apply. 37 On the Format tab, with Format and All Text listed in the top two drop-down boxes, in the Size list, select 8. 38 Click OK.
Increase the text font size for the top two graphs
39 Follow the steps described above (step 33 and 37) to change the font for all text in the top two graphs to 8 point. 40 Save the document, replacing the existing document.
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41 Run the newly saved document, which should display in Interactive Mode as follows:
Apply a bevel effect and transparency to the Revenue by Region graph
42 Switch to Editable Mode. 43 Right-click the Revenue by Region horizontal bar graph and select Format. 44 On the Format tab, in the Format drop-down list, select Series Colors. 45 Under Fill, in the Effect drop-down list, select Chiseled Edge. 46 Use the Transparency slider to set transparency to 20%. 47 Click OK.
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Save the document and study it in Interactive Mode
48 Save the document again, replacing the existing document. 49 Run the newly saved document and study it in Interactive Mode. 50 Select different categories and different months in the selectors to see the effect on the graphs. 51 Select the Total on the Category selector and observe how the values on the axes change.
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Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: The following design best practices are recommended for graphs: Use pie charts sparingly To save screen space, use thermometers instead of gauges and dials Round numbers for data values Use 3-D effects carefully Minimize the emphasis on non-data elements (like scales, grid lines, and so forth) Use a single graph type if it works well for multiple graphs on your document Label scales and graph sections for context and use graph tooltips Pie charts and bar charts are best for showing item comparisons. Vertical bar charts or line charts are good for showing time series comparisons. Step column charts (histograms) and line charts (histographs) are best for frequency distribution comparisons. Dot charts (scatter plots) and bubble charts are best for correlation comparisons. When using a graph in a document, include a non-generic, meaningful title that describes the main idea for the graph.
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You can apply the following formatting features to graphs: Transparency effect Curved lines Bevel effects Data tooltips
You can apply the following formatting features to graphs as well as other document objects: Gradients Drop shadow effects 3D borders
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WIDGETS II
Lesson Description
This lesson expands the discussion on Flash widgets. It covers additional widgets available out of the box with Report Services. It also covers how to use certain widgets as selectors to control other document objects.
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Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Use widgets as selectors and include additional widgets in your dynamic enterprise dashboards.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Use widgets as selectors to control the output of grid/graphs or panel stacks. (Page 287) Use a Bubble Grid widget in a document to display correlations. (Page 296) Create a Data Cloud widget and understand its purpose. (Page 300) Create a Graph Matrix Widget and understand its purpose. (Page 303) Create a Microcharts widget and understand its purpose. (Page 309) Use a Media widget to display either video, audio, images, or Web site content within a document. (Page 329) Create the Waterfall widget and understand its purpose. (Page 339) Use the Fish Eye Selector widget to display a selector in a custom format. (Page 345) Use a Date Selection Widget in documents that display in Flash Mode. (Page 351) List the widgets that can be displayed in both Flash Mode and Interactive Mode. (Page 354)
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Widgets as Selectors
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use widgets as selectors to control the output of grid/graphs or panel stacks.
You are already familiar with some of the Flash widgets that are available in Report Services. These widgets highlight patterns and trends in datasets and provide a new level of interactivity with graphs. Some of the out-of-the-box widgets can act like selectors that control other document objects. When you configure a widget to act as a selector in a document, users can interact with the widget and also have the widget control the data that displays in other grid/graphs or panel stacks within the same document. The widget itself is not a selector but the attributes, custom groups, or consolidations within the widget template are the selectors. You can create selectors from the following widgets:
Widgets That Can Act As Selectors
Widget Bubble Grid Data Cloud Graph Matrix Heat Map Interactive Bubble Graph Interactive Stacked Graph Microcharts Time Series Slider Waterfall Weighted List
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You will learn about many of these widgets in this lesson.

As you know, each widget has its own unique display and its own method for selecting elements. For example, in a Time Series Slider widget, you select elements by clicking data points on the graph. When you configure the Time Series slider widget as a selector, you can click a specific data point (for instance, Q1 2009) and all of the target grid/graphs and panel stacks in the document update to display this specific quarters data. for widgets This lesson explains the processTimedefiningSlider as selectors with respect to the Series widget and the Interactive Stacked Graph widget. For information on how to define other widgets as selectors, refer to the Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
Using a Time Series Slider Widget as a Selector

When you create a Time Series Slider widget, you can work in Design Mode or Editable Mode to define one or more objects on the widget template as selectors. When you switch to Flash Mode, you use the primary graph at the bottom of the widget as the selector to control other panel stacks or grid/graphs on the document. For example, you can select a specific data point on the graph and all of the data in the target panel stacks or grid/graphs automatically updates to reflect that same data point.
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In the example below, the document contains a Time Series Slider widget that displays all quarters for three years (2007-2009) in Flash Mode. The user selects the Q1 2009 data point from the widgets graph and the data point acts as a selector to show the same quarter on the grid report below the widget.
Time Series Slider Widget as Selector - Q1 2009
If you click the data point for Q1 2008, the grid report displays the profit data related to that particular quarter instead, as shown below:
Time Series Slider Widget as Selector - Q1 2008
While the widget in this example targets a single grid, it could target multiple grid/graphs and one or more panel stacks.
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As mentioned previously, to use a widget as a selector, you must define one of the widgets objects (in this case, the Quarter attribute) as the selector. You specify the target for the selector and then switch to Flash Mode to interact with it. For the previous example, the Quarter attribute is configured as a selector in the Configure Selector window, as shown below:
Configure Selector Window for Quarter Attribute
When you switch to Flash Mode, you can select individual data points from the widgets graph and view the effect on the target grid. The procedure below lists the general process for defining a widget as a selector.
To use a widget as a selector:
This procedure assumes: You have already created a widget that contains the report objects to use as selectors. The widget is one of the types that can act as a selector.
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You have created the panel stack or grid/graph to use as the target. The selector and target must have an attribute in common.
1 Open the document in either Design or Editable Mode. 2 Do one of the following: Right-click the attribute, custom group, or consolidation header (not an element) in the widget template to use as the selector, and select Use as Selector. OR Right-click the Metrics column in the widget template, and select Edit Selector. 3 In the Configure Selector window, select the target grid/graph or panel stack in the list of available objects on the right, and click the > button to add it to the list of selected targets. to right-click and select Edit You needdisplay the Configure SelectorSelector in order to window. select You cancustommultipleortargets. The attribute, metric, group, consolidation you selected is the source, and the selected grid/graph is the target. The Action Type of the selector is set to Select Element. 4 (Optional) To ensure that you can select more than one element in the widget, select the Show option for All check box. 5 (Optional) To ensure that the element displayed in the selector changes if an element is chosen in another selector, select the Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection check box.
You need to disabletoApply selections as a filter check box in order select the Automatically
update when there is no data for the current selection check box.
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6 Click OK. 7 Switch to Flash Mode to view the results.
Using an Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as a Selector

For the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, you must choose the parts of the widget to act as the selector. Like the other widgets, you begin this process in the widget template by defining the objects that serve as selectors. Because the Interactive Stacked Graph widget displays both a legend and a graph, you have the choice as to which portion of the widget should act as a selector. If you want the graph to be the selector, then you must define additional properties within the widgets Flash properties. For example, the document below shows an Interactive Stacked Graph. When you select a region from the widget legend on the left, the target grid below the widget updates to show data related to that region.
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as Selector - Legend
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The Interactive Stacked Graph widget template contains the following objects:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget Template Definition
The Region attribute in the widget template is defined to act as a selector for the grid below the widget. That is, the Region attribute uses the grid as a target, as shown below:
Configure Selector Window for Region Attribute
If you want only the legend to behave as a selector, you do not need to perform any additional steps beyond those described above. By default, the widget permits the legend to act as a selector.
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However, if you want the widgets graph to behave as a selector, you must also define the Month attribute on the widget template so that it uses the grid as its target. Then, you must switch to Flash Mode to make a modification to the widgets Flash properties, as described in the procedure below:
To determine which part of an Interactive Stacked Graph widget is enabled as a selector:
1 Open the document in Flash Mode. 2 Right-click the widget and select Properties. 3 In the Properties window, in the Selectable Area drop-down list, select Graph (or Legend), as shown below:
Flash Properties for Interactive Stacked Graph
Legend is the default setting.

4 (Optional) To ensure that target grid/graphs and panel stacks are updated when you hover over one of these objects, select the Change Selection on Mouse Over check box. 5 Click OK.
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The document below shows how you can click a data point on the graph to control the data that displays on the grid below the widget:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as Selector - Graph
the data point represents the Becausemonth and a region, the targetintersection of a specific grid displays data for the same month and region. In summary, after you enable one or more objects on the widget template as a selector, switch to Flash Mode to specify the remaining properties (particularly if you want the graph to behave as a selector). In Flash Mode, you can specify which of the following is enabled as a selector in the widget: Attribute elements in the legend on the leftThis is the default. You can use the attribute elements in the checklist as selectors if one or more of the attributes on the columns of the widget template are enabled as selectors. A user can choose only one attribute element from the list to update target panel stacks and grid/graphs. make from the If yourelated multiple selections you selectlist, only data to the last element displays in target panel stacks and grid/graphs. Area graphsYou can use the area graphs as selectors if the attribute used to generate the graph series is enabled as a selector. You can select only one data point at a time.
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Bubble Grid Widget

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use a Bubble Grid widget in a document to display correlations.
The Bubble Grid widget shows trends or anomalies in data, relative to the total contribution of accompanying data. In the widget, metric values are plotted as bubbles of different sizes and colors. The sizes and colors are controlled by two distinct metrics on the widget template. Each bubble is plotted at the intersection of two different attribute elements. For example, in the document shown below, a single bubble represents the Customer Count and Average Revenue per Customer metrics for the South region in July 2009:
Bubble Grid Example
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To view more examples of the Bubble Grid widget, in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, run the
Operational Performance Dashboard, the Support Center Dashboard, and the Top 10 Airports document in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. The Bubble Grid widget is most beneficial when it is used to perform analysis involving key business ratios, such as the number of customers in a region vs. the revenue generated per customer (as shown on the previous page). For example, the widget can help analysts investigate questions such as "Does the number of customers that purchase from a certain region correlate to the amount of money each customer spends?" Analysts can use the widget to answer these types of questions in the context of business attributes, such as different regions and times of the year. Positive correlations in the data would show that regions with a large number of customers generate a large amount of revenue, and negative correlations would show the opposite. When an analyst detects a negative correlation for regions, he or she can investigate reasons for the issue and recommend changes such as adding more sales personnel to the region. For example, in the Bubble Grid image, despite the fact that the Web region's bubbles are the largest (showing a higher number of customers than any other region), the darker color of the bubbles indicates that the Average Revenue per Customer is lower than that of most of the other regions, which display lighter bubbles even though their bubbles are smaller.
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Data Requirements for the Bubble Grid Widget

The Bubble Grid requires the following widget template structure:
Bubble Grid Data Requirements
Rows Only two attributes, consolidations, or custom groups: The first (left-most) attribute on the rows provides the X-axis on the widget.This attribute can be time-based, but it does not have to be. The second attribute on the rows provides the Y-axis of the widget. Columns At least two metrics: The first (left-most) metric on the columns determines the size of the bubbles. The second metric determines the color of the bubbles. Any additional metrics display in tooltips when the user hovers the cursor over a bubble in Flash Mode. These metrics do not affect the size or color of the bubbles.
The Bubble Grid widget does not require a separate selector to enable the user to interact with it. However, you can use a Bubble Grid widget as a selector. The following is an example of a valid arrangement of report objects on a Bubble Grid widget template:
Bubble Grid Widget Template
When the widget displays in Flash Mode, different months plot along the X-axis and the regions plot along the Y-axis. A different bubble displays for every region and month. The color of each bubble represents the average revenue amounts and the size of each bubble represents the number of customers that purchased from the region. With a time-based attribute, such as Month, on the X-axis of the widget an analyst can trace the trend of two different metrics relative to time.
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Formatting a Bubble Grid Widget

You can apply formatting to the Bubble Grid widget template in Editable Mode and the widget can inherit the formatting properties. You can specify the number format of the metric values, font styles and colors, and more. Additionally, in Flash Mode, you can right-click the widget and select Properties to change the following Flash formatting properties:
Flash Formatting Options for the Bubble Grid Widget Formatting option
Minimum ColorColor used for bubbles representing the smallest metric values Maximum ColorColor used for bubbles representing the largest metric values The background, labels, and border colors Labels font Show LegendHide or display the widget legend Maximum RadiusThe maximum radius of the bubbles
Bubble Grid Widget
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Data Cloud Widget

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Create a Data Cloud widget and understand its purpose.
A Data Cloud widget displays attribute elements in various sizes to depict the differences in metric values between the elements. The widget consists of a list of attribute elements. The font size of each attribute element represents a metric value for that element. These metric values represent the values of the first metric on the widget's template. In the widget below, the size of each attribute element from the Customer Region attribute represents the amount of revenue generated by each region. The Count of Customers metric does not affect the size of the elements in the widget, although it does display in the data tooltips, as shown below for the Central region:
Data Cloud Example
image above, the widget's template In the the widget to show the exact metric is provided below values for the attribute elements displayed in the widget.
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Data Requirements for the Data Cloud Widget

As you have seen in the previous example, the Data Cloud widget template requires the following structure:
Data Cloud Data Requirements
Rows One attribute: This attribute on the rows determines the elements that display in the widget. If you include more attributes to the right of the first (left-most) attribute, elements from all of the attributes are combined and displayed in the widget. Columns One metric: This metric determines the size of the font of the attribute elements on the widget. Any additional metrics display in tooltips when the user hovers the cursor over an element in Flash Mode. These metrics do not affect the font size of the elements.
The Data Cloud widget does not require a separate selector to enable the user to interact with it. However, you can use a Data Cloud widget as a selector. The following is an example of a valid arrangement of report objects on a Data Cloud widget template:
Data Cloud Widget Template
Data Cloud Widget
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Formatting a Data Cloud Widget

Like other widgets, the Data Cloud widget can inherit some formatting defined in the widget template in Editable Mode. Additionally, in Flash Mode, you can right-click the widget and select Properties to change the following Flash formatting properties:
Flash Formatting Options for the Data Cloud Widget
Formatting option Sort Alphabetically AlignmentAlign text left, right, center, or justify EquationDetermine the equation (square root, linear, or logarithm) of the widget Minimum Font Size Font Colors, Background Color, and Border Color
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Graph Matrix Widget

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Create a Graph Matrix Widget and understand its purpose.
The Graph Matrix widget displays multiple series of data in a combined graph and line chart. This type of display is intended to highlight actual vs. forecast figures, but it can be used for other datasets as well. The overall dataset is sliced into a matrix of graphs to facilitate quick comparisons across multiple dimensions. With this visualization, you can answer questions such as How are sales comparing to the predicted sales forecast, by time and region? With the Graph Matrix widget, one graph displays for every combination of elements from the attributes on the widget templates rows and columns. For example, in the widget below, the Category attribute is on the widget templates columns and the Customer Region attribute is on the widget templates rows:
Graph Matrix Widget Example
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There is a separate area graph for each combination of customer region and product category (28 graphs in all). For example, there is an area graph that focuses solely on electronics product figures in the Northeast customer region. Values in that graph are plotted across a time-related attribute Quarter (on the X-axis) and the Revenue metric (on the Y-axis). The line graph at the top of the area graph represents Revenue Forecast metric values. Each area graph in the Graph Matrix widget has the following characteristics: The X-axis provides the time scale. For example, the X-axis may represent weeks, quarters, or years. The Y-axis provides the metric values. For example, the Y-axis might represent revenue, profit, or units sold. The area graph shows the actual values, enabling you to see how values changed over time. The area graph represents the values of the first metric on the widget template. The line graph above the area graph shows the predicted, or forecast, values. The line graph represents the values of any additional metrics on the widget template. The black reference line in the area graph shows the average for only the specific graph which you are viewing. The red reference line in the area graph shows the average metric value for all of the graphs in the same row of the Graph Matrix widget. This enables you to easily compare one graph in the widget to another.
black and red reference lines, If you prefer to hide the the widgets Flash properties. you can disable them in
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Performing Analysis with the Graph Matrix Widget

When you view a Graph Matrix widget in Flash Mode, you can do the following: Maximize an area graph by double-clicking it. When an area graph is maximized, you can move it around the screen and view the graphs legend if the legend is enabled in the Properties window. View specific graph series values by hovering your cursor over the area graph series.
The image below shows an individual area graph (for Northeast, Electronics) that is maximized. When you hover your cursor over any of the areas or lines on the graph, tooltips display with information about the graph. In the image below, tooltips display for the line that shows the average revenue for all graphs along the row:
Graph Matrix with Single Graph Expanded
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Data Requirements for the Graph Matrix Widget

Like all other widgets, the Graph Matrix widget has certain data requirements. In Design Mode or Editable Mode, you must place report objects on the widget template as described in the table below:
Graph Matrix Data Requirements
Rows At least two attributes: The first (left-most) attribute on the rows, and the second, third, fourth, and so on, provide the row headers in the widget. The last attribute on the rows provides the X-axes of the graphs. This attribute, which is generally time-based, is used to drive the time series of the graphs. Columns At least one attribute. The first (top-most) attribute on the columns provides the column headers in the widget. These values are used to slice the data, or group it by the attributes on the columns. Additional attributes on the columns produce separate line graphs within each area graph in the widget. Note: If there are no attributes on the columns, you must place at least three attributes on the rows. At least one metric, to the right of (or below) the attribute on the columns. The first metric is depicted as the colored series in the area graphs. Additional metrics are depicted as forecast line graphs in each area graph.
The Graph Matrix widget does not require a separate selector to enable the user to interact with it. However, you can use a Graph Matrix widget as a selector. The following is an example of a valid arrangement of report objects on a Graph Matrix widget template:
Graph Matrix Widget Template
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The same template produces the Graph Matrix widget shown at the beginning of this topic. Matrix widget, To view more examples of the Graphrun the Region in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, Category Analysis document, the Music Sales Dashboard, or the Sales by Customer State document in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
Formatting the Graph Matrix Widget

You can control most of the widgets formatting properties by defining them in Editable Mode. For example, font colors or number formats you assign to the widget template in Editable Mode carry through when the widget displays in Flash Mode. To apply additional formatting options that are specific to the Graph Matrix widget, switch to Flash Mode, right-click the widget, and select Properties. Within the Flash Mode properties, you can control the following types of formatting:
Flash Formatting Options for Graph Matrix Widget
Formatting option Determine if every area graph uses the same scale and number interval on its Y-axis Add horizontal reference lines to every area graph (The red line provides the average for all graphs in the same row; the black line provides the average for each graph.) Show or hide the axis labels on the area graphs Show or hide a legend for the area graphs Note: The legend is displayed when you click on one of the area graphs to maximize the graph. Adjust how transparent or opaque the background of the widget is How to Format It In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. Select or clear the Uniform Axis check box. Select or clear the Reference Line check box.
Select or clear the Axis Labels check box. Select or clear the Zoom View Graph Legend check box.
In the Background Opacity drop-down list, select a level of opacity. The higher the percentage, the less transparent the background will be.
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Flash Formatting Options for Graph Matrix Widget

Formatting option Show all series as line graphs Inherit or disable grid/graph formatting How to Format It Select or clear the All series as line graphs check box. Select or clear the Inherit grid/graph formatting check box.
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Microcharts Widget
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Create a Microcharts widget and understand its purpose.
The Microcharts widget consists of one or more microcharts, which are compact charts integrated into a grid of data that enables analysts to quickly identify trends. Microcharts convey information in such a way that the user can, at a glance, determine the trend of a metric over time or how a metric is performing compared to forecasted figures. The Microcharts widget is useful for this purpose because individual microcharts can display attribute and metric data in a small graph that would otherwise be displayed as a single value in a grid report cell. One, two, or three microcharts can be used in the Microcharts widget, depending on the number of metrics you include on the widget template. In the document shown below, all three microcharts display within a single Microcharts widget. That is, the widget template contains the requisite number of metrics to display all three types of microcharts and they are all enabled for display. The bar and sparkline microcharts convey the trend of a metric over time, from left to right in the widget below. On the right, a bullet reveals the percentage of cases that were closed, in correlation with the goal for that region, which is represented by the vertical line.
Microcharts Widget (Sparkline, Bar, and Bullet)
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includes widget-specific formatting such This examplethe bar, sparkline, and bullet microcharts. as labels for To learn more about formatting a Microcharts widget, see Formatting Options for Microcharts Widget starting on page 318. The number of rows in the widget represents the number of elements from the first attribute on the widget templates rows. For example, there are five rows of region data because the Region attribute on the widget templates rows has five different elements, or regions. In the example, you see each of the three types of microcharts that are available within the Microcharts widget. Each of the following microcharts provides a unique way to visualize your data, as described below:
Microcharts Display Types
Microcharts Type Bar chart Description Bar microcharts plot a metric with respect to time using a single bar, displaying a metrics current value and historical data to visualize the shape of the trend.
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Microcharts Display Types

Microcharts Type Sparklines Description Sparkline microcharts plot a metric with respect to time using a line graph, displaying a metrics current value and historical data to visualize the shape of the trend. Sparkline microcharts consist of the following: A line graph that depicts the metrics value over time. A horizontal reference line, which provides a comparison point between the actual values and the reference values. Bullet chart Bullet microcharts compare the value of one metric against other metrics, typically representing a target value. One common example is comparing the year-to-date value of a metric to the annual target or the forecast of the metric. Bullet charts consist of the following: A horizontal performance measure bar. This represents the actual metric value. A vertical reference line, which is typically the target value for the metric. Colored reference bands (Band 1, Band 2, and Band 3) that indicate a numeric range in which the metrics values exist.
Performing Analysis with the Microcharts Widget

You can do the following while viewing a Microcharts widget in Flash Mode: View specific graph series values by hovering your cursor over the series of the bar and sparkline microcharts. For the bullet microcharts, you can hover over the end of the performance bar and the vertical reference line to view the actual and target values, respectively. Move a column of data and microcharts to another location by clicking its header and dragging it. Sort a column of data and microcharts by clicking its header to switch between an ascending and descending sort. You cannot sort any columns that contain microcharts.
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Any changes you make to the column position or sort order of the widget are saved when you save the document.
Data Requirements for Bar, Sparkline, and Bullet Charts

Depending on how many metrics you want to include in the Microcharts widget template, you have the following display options: Display a bar or sparkline (or both) Display only a bullet Display all three microcharts (sparkline, bar, and bullet)
Displaying Only Bar or Sparkline Microcharts (or Both)

Bar and sparkline microcharts are based on the same metric, so they are designed the same way. Whether you choose to display a sparkline or a bar, or both, largely depends on the Flash formatting properties you enable when you view the widget in Flash Mode. By default, the sparkline displays in Flash Mode for the Microcharts widget. If you prefer to display the bar instead, you use the widgets Flash Mode properties to hide the sparkline and display the bar. You can also enable both microcharts so that the bar and sparkline display next to each other.
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The data requirements for a bar or sparkline microcharts include the following:
Data Requirements for Bar or Sparkline Microcharts
Rows At least two attributes: The first attribute on the rows, and the second, third, fourth, and so on, determine the total number of rows displayed in the widget. The elements from those attributes become individual rows in the widget. The last (right-most) attribute determines the X-axis values in the bar and sparkline microcharts in the widget. Columns At least two metrics: The first (left-most) metric on the columns determines the size of the bars (the series) in a bar and the fluctuations in the line graphs in the sparkline. The second metric creates the horizontal reference lines that display in the sparkline. If you place a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth metric on the columns, the metrics display as individual columns in the widget. These columns display after the bar or sparkline. If you place a seventh metric on the columns, you can produce a bullet. See the next section for more information on bullet microcharts.
Using the same example mentioned previously, the following image shows a valid arrangement of report objects on a Microcharts widget template designed to display a sparkline and/or a bar:
Microcharts Widget Template - Sparkline and/or Bar
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The same template produces the following display in Flash Mode, with the default sparkline display:
Microcharts Widget in Flash Mode - Sparkline Only
If you analyze the sparkline, note the first (left-most) Open Cases (TM) metric represents the fluctuations in the sparkline. The second metric, Avg. Open Cases (T12 M) represents the horizontal reference line.
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Displaying a Bullet
The requirements listed below produce bullet microcharts in the widget. They also automatically produce bar and sparkline microcharts. As mentioned earlier, the bar microcharts are hidden and the sparkline and bullet microcharts display on the dashboard, by default. You can disable the sparklines display using the Flash Mode properties so that the widget shows only the bullet.
Data Requirements for Bullet Microcharts
Rows At least two attributes: The first attribute on the rows, and the second, third, fourth, and so on, determine the total number of rows displayed in the widget. The elements from those attributes become individual rows in the widget. The last (right-most) attribute determines the X-axis values in the bar and sparkline microcharts in the widget. Columns At least seven metrics: The first (left-most) metric on the columns determines the size of the bars (the series) in the bar microcharts and the fluctuations in the line graphs in the sparkline microcharts. This applies even if you want to display only bullet microcharts. The second metric creates the horizontal reference lines that are displayed in the sparkline microcharts.This applies even if you want to display only bullet microcharts. The third metric determines the length of the performance measure bar in the bullet microcharts. The bar represents the actual metric value. The fourth metric determines the maximum possible values in the bullet microcharts. The fifth metric determines the right-most boundary of the first color band, Band 1, in the bullet microcharts. The sixth metric determines the right-most boundary of the second color band, Band 2, in the bullet microcharts. The seventh metric determines the value of the vertical reference line in the bullet microcharts, which is typically the target value for the metric. Any additional metrics (eighth metric and beyond) display in the columns of the widget, after the microcharts and their associated metrics.
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The following is an example of a valid arrangement of report objects on a Microcharts widget template designed to display a bullet:
Microcharts Widget Template - Bullet
The same template produces the following display in Flash Mode: using the widget The bar and sparkline are disabledHowever, the templates Flash Mode properties. metrics that define the bar and sparkline are still required components in the widget template. That is, you need a minimum of seven metrics to display the bullet.
Microcharts Widget in Flash Mode - Bullet Only
If you analyze the bullet, note the third metric, Closed Cases (TM), determines the length of the performance measure bar (the darkest horizontal bar). The fourth metric, Max (Closed Cases), represents the maximum possible value, Band 3, in the bullet. The fifth metric, Low (Closed Cases), determines the right-most boundary of the first color band, Band 1, in the bullet. The sixth metric, Med (Closed Cases), determines the right-most boundary of the second color band, Band 2. Finally, the seventh metric, Target Closed Cases, determines the value of the vertical reference line, which represents the target value for the metric.
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As you can see, bullet microcharts are particularly effective because they help you visualize the output of five different metrics in a simple, very compact display. The horizontal performance bar shows the status of the metrics performance against the vertical target line. The three color bands show how the performance bar falls within poor, average, and good (or low, medium, and high) thresholds. An analyst can see, at a glance, the regions that are performing well and exceeding targets versus the regions that need improvement.
Displaying All Three Microcharts (Bar, Sparkline, and Bullet)

The data requirements to display all three microcharts simultaneously are the same as the requirements described in the table for the bullet. As long as you have the minimum seven metrics, you can ensure that the Microcharts widget displays each of the three chart types. As mentioned earlier, the bar and sparkline use the same metric for their data source. To display both the bar and sparkline, simply enable their display options through the widget templates Flash Mode properties. When you place the seven metrics on the widget template and you enable the display of the three types of microcharts, the widget displays as follows:
Microcharts Widget (Bar, Sparkline, and Bullet)
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Formatting the Microcharts Widget

The process for creating a Microcharts widget is very similar to that of the other widgets described in the previous topics. You select the Microcharts option on the Insert menu in Design or Editable Mode. Then, you proceed to define the widget template to include the appropriate objects as described in the data requirements section. To format the widget, like many other widgets, you specify font color and styles directly within the widget template in Editable Mode. You can also specify the font color, style, and number values of the first metrics values on the widget template. However, you cannot format individual metric columns. To apply additional formatting options that are specific to the Microcharts widget, switch to Flash Mode, right-click the widget, and select Properties. Within the properties, you can control the following types of formatting:
Formatting Options for Microcharts Widget
Aspect of Microcharts Widget to Format Adjust how transparent or opaque the background of the widget is How to Format It In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. In the drop-down list, select Opacity. In the Background Opacity drop-down list, specify a level of opacity. The higher the percentage, the less transparent the background will be. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Bar tab. Select or clear the Show bar graph check box. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Bar tab. Select or clear the Min/max legend check box. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Colors. Click the Bar tab. In the Positive values and Negative values drop-down lists, select a color for the positive and negative bars, respectively. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Labels. Click the Bar tab. In the Header box, type a descriptive name for the column header above the bar charts.
Show or hide the bar microcharts in the widget
Show or hide the minimum and maximum values for the bar microcharts Adjust the color of the bars (series) in the bar microcharts
Add a descriptive column header name above the bar microcharts
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Aspect of Microcharts Widget to Format Show or hide the sparkline microcharts in the widget Show or hide the markers on the line graph in the sparkline microcharts How to Format It In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Sparkline tab. Select or clear the Show sparkline graph check box. In the Flash Properties,in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Sparkline tab. To show or hide all of the markers between the first and last markers, select or clear the All points check box. To show or hide the first and last markers on the line graph, select or clear the End points check box. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Sparkline tab. Select or clear the Reference line or Reference area check boxes to show or hide the reference line or background, respectively. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Sparkline tab. Select or clear the Associated metric check box. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Colors. Click the Sparkline tab. In the Series line drop-down list, select a color for the sparkline microchart series. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Colors. Click the Sparkline tab. In the Reference line or Reference area drop-down lists, select a color for the reference line or background, respectively. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Labels. Click the Sparkline tab. In the Header box, type a descriptive name for the column header above the sparkline charts. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Bullet tab. Select or clear the Show bullet graph check box. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Bullet tab. Select or clear the Reference line or Reference bands check boxes to show or hide the reference line or color bands, respectively. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Bullet tab. Select or clear the Band legend check box.
Show or hide the horizontal reference line or sparkline background
Show or hide the metric column and values associated with the sparkline microcharts Adjust the color of the fluctuating line (series) in the sparkline microcharts
Adjust the color of the horizontal reference line or sparkline background
Add a descriptive column header name above the sparkline microcharts
Show or hide the bullet microcharts in the widget
Show or hide the vertical reference line or color bands
Show or hide a legend for the bullet microcharts
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Aspect of Microcharts Widget to Format Show or hide the metric column and values associated with the bullet microcharts Adjust the color of the performance bar How to Format It In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Options. Click the Bullet tab. Select or clear the Associated metric check box. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Colors. Click the Bullet tab. From the Positive values, and Negative values drop-down lists, select a color for the positive and negative parts of the performance bar, respectively. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Colors. Click the Bullet tab. From the Reference line drop-down list, select a color for the vertical target line. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Colors. Click the Bullet tab. In the Band 1, Band 2, and Band 3 drop-down lists, select a color for each reference band. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Labels. Click the Bullet tab. In the Header box, type a descriptive name for the column header above the bullet charts. In the Flash Properties, in the drop-down list, select Labels. Click the Bullet tab. In the Band 1, Band 2, and Band 3 boxes, type a descriptive name for each reference band name displayed on the legend.
Adjust the color of the vertical target line
Adjust the color of the reference bands
Add a descriptive column header name above the bullet microcharts
Add descriptive names to the legend that describes the different reference band colors
Operation Modes for the Microcharts Widget

In addition to the formatting options described above, you can also specify the operation mode for the Microcharts widget. These modes include the following: Grid Vertical Scroll Ticker KPI List
You control the operation mode by specifying the desired mode in the Microcharts widgets Flash properties.
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Grid Mode
This is the default mode for the Microcharts widget. In this mode, all the rows of microcharts are displayed at the same time, from top to bottom.
Vertical Scroll Mode

By default, the Microcharts widget displays multiple rows. In Vertical Scroll mode, you can view each row of microcharts one at a time as they automatically scroll from the top to the bottom. You can also manually navigate from one row to the next using the Previous and Next buttons on the right side of the widget, as shown below:
Microcharts Widget - Vertical Scroll Mode
To use the vertical scroll operation mode in the Microcharts widget:
1 Open the document in Flash Mode. 2 Right-click the Microcharts widget and select Properties. 3 In the Microcharts Widget Properties window, in the drop-down list at the top left, select Mode. 4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, select Vertical Scroll. 5 On the Vertical Scroll tab, you can choose to manually scroll from one row to the next. To do this, select the Previous/Next buttons check box. 6 In the Motion drop-down list, determine the speed of the vertical scrolling by selecting an option. 7 Click OK to apply the changes to the widget.
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Ticker Mode
In Ticker mode, you can view microcharts and supplemental text in a scrolling ticker that moves from right to left. You can add text next to each microchart to provide background information or highlight a trend displayed in the microchart. This text is displayed alongside the microcharts as they scroll horizontally, as shown below:
Microcharts Widget - Ticker Mode
A ticker is a combination of text and variables. The text is static and it displays exactly as you specify in the Properties window in Flash Mode. The variables are dynamic and the values of the variables display at run time. For example, you might want the variable to alert you appropriately when profits are either above or below a specified target. You can define two tickers in the Properties window. The ticker that is displayed in the widget depends on the following: Ticker 1 displays when the third metric on the widget template (the performance metric) is less than the target value, which is represented by the seventh metric. Consider this when defining the text that you want to display for this ticker. Ticker 2 displays when the third metric on the widget template (the performance metric) is equal to or greater than the target value, which is represented by the seventh metric. Consider this when defining the text that you want to display for this ticker.
The following is an example of using variables to define text that appears in Ticker 1. Recall that Ticker 1 displays when the third metrics (the performance metric) values are less than the target values represented by the seventh metric. {&sparkline} The {Region} region did NOT reach its closed cases target of {[Target Closed Cases]} {&bullet}
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The text in brackets are variables for a microchart, attribute, or metric. The remaining text is the message you want to include for analysts.
The resulting ticker displays as shown below. When you click the text, a larger version of the ticker displays:
Microcharts Widget - Ticker Mode
To use the ticker operation mode in the Microcharts widget:
1 Open the document in Flash Mode. 2 Right-click the Microcharts widget and select Properties. 3 In the Microcharts Widget Properties window, in the drop-down list at the top left, select Mode. 4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, select Ticker. 5 Click the Ticker tab. 6 On the Ticker tab, in the Title box, type a name for the ticker. This name displays above the ticker. 7 You can choose to manually scroll the ticker across the screen. To do this, select the Previous/Next buttons check box. 8 Select or clear the Enable detail view check box to display or hide a detailed view of each row.
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The detailed view displays a larger version of the corresponding row when you click the text within the scrolling row. This view is similar to the view in Grid operation mode. 9 In the Motion drop-down list, determine the speed of the scrolling ticker by selecting an option.
Define the text that will appear in the tickers
Ticker 1 displays when the third metrics (the performance metric) values are less than the target values represented by the seventh metric. Ticker 2 displays when the third metrics values are equal to or greater than the target values represented by the seventh metric. 10 To define the text that displays in the tickers, in the Ticker 1(M3 < M7) and Ticker 2(M3>=M7) boxes, type values for the tickers. You can use the following variables to define the text for tickers: MicrochartsEnter one of the following to display specific types of dynamic microcharts at run time:
{&bullet} {&bar} {&sparkline} For example, if you enter {&sparkline}, at run time, &sparkline is replaced by the corresponding sparkline microchart. Using & to prefix macros for the microcharts such as in {&bullet} or {&sparkline} ensures that the variables refer to dynamic data values in the widget. Attributes and MetricsEnter attributes and metrics in brackets to display dynamic attributes and metrics at run time. For example, if you enter {name of attribute or metric}, the corresponding values of the attribute or metric display at run time.
To specify attributes or metrics that are composed of more than one word, include brackets as shown in the following example: {[Revenue Forecast]}.
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11 In the Ticker 1 color and Ticker 2 color drop-down lists, select a font color for Ticker 1 and Ticker 2, respectively. 12 Click OK to apply the changes to the widget.
KPI List Mode

If you view the Microcharts widget in Grid mode or Vertical Scroll mode and if the widget template contains only one attribute on the rows, you can enable KPI List mode. In this mode, the widget displays a group of related metrics (such as Revenue, Average Revenue, and Revenue Target) in its own row of microcharts. This mode makes it easier to quickly analyze multiple KPIs simultaneously. KPI List mode is available only if the following conditions are met: The Microcharts widget is in Grid mode or Vertical Scroll mode. The widget template contains only one attribute in the rows. be The attribute shouldtimetime-based, like Month, since it controls the series of the bar and sparkline microcharts. The image below shows an example of a Microcharts widget in KPI List mode:
Microcharts Widget - KPI List Mode
To see this example, run the Operational Performance Dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and
Scorecards folder.
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The example above is possible because there are many metrics on the widget template that represent each KPI in the rows of the Microcharts widget. For example, if you want to display a bullet for each KPI, you need to include the requisite seven metrics. Multiply this requirement against the number of KPIs and you see that the widget template requires many metrics. When you enable KPI List mode in the Flash properties of the Microcharts widget, you must also specify the number of metrics on the widget template that should be used to generate each KPI row. For example, the following widget template produces a simplified Microcharts widget in KPI List mode, which displays only sparklines:
Microcharts Widget Template for Sparklines in KPI List Mode
Microcharts Widget with Sparklines in KPI List Mode
In the widgets Flash properties, you specify that each KPI row should be comprised of two metrics. The first two metrics make up the Revenue row, the next two metrics make up the Profit row, and so on. With only two metrics, you can display a bar or sparkline (including their horizontal reference lines), but not the bullet. To display a bullet, you would need to have the minimum seven required metrics per KPI row.
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To view a Microcharts widget in KPI List mode:
assumes you have already created This procedurewidget andthat widget template contains a Microcharts the only one attribute in the rows. 1 Open the document in Flash Mode. 2 Right-click the Microcharts widget and select Properties. 3 In the Microcharts Widget Properties window, in the drop-down list at the top left, select Mode. 4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, select Grid or Vertical Scroll. widget template contains only Since thein the rows, the KPI List Mode one box attribute check is selected by default. 5 In the Metrics per KPI box, type the number of metrics on the widget template to use to generate the row of microcharts for each KPI. If you specify only one metric, you can show only the sparkline or bar microcharts, but without the horizontal reference line. If you specify two metrics, you can show only the sparkline or bar microcharts, including the horizontal reference line. If you specify three to six metrics, you can show the sparkline or bar microcharts with additional metrics shown to the right of the sparkline or bar. If you specify seven or more metrics, you can show the sparkline, bar, and bullet microcharts. Any additional metrics are shown to the right of the bullet.
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Naming the metrics associated with Microcharts
6 If you want to specify a name to the associated metric for the sparkline or bar chart, in the drop-down list, select Labels. 7 For the Sparkline or Bar tab, in the Associated metric box, type the name of the metric. associated metric displays the Thelast data point in the sparkline same value as the or bar chart.
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Media Widget
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use a Media widget to display either video, audio, images, or Web site content within a document.
The Media widget enables you to present a variety of media content, such as audio, video, images, or Web site content on your documents that display in Flash Mode. By including such content, you can provide dashboard users with additional information about the documents data or information on how to use the document most effectively. You can also use the Media widget to enhance the documents appearance. One of the most common uses of the Media widget is to offer users supplemental information about the documents contents. For example, a sales manager can record a video that describes the sales trends depicted in a dashboard and provides expectations for next quarters sales. Dashboard recipients can then study the dashboards contents in the context of the sales managers commentary. The Media widget is also a useful tool to help analysts understand the layout and interactivity of a dashboard. For example, a dashboard designer can include an audio or video file that introduces analysts to the dashboard and guides them on how to use its selectors most effectively. As mentioned above, the Media widget can also display HTML content from a Web site. This type of content can enhance the dashboards effectiveness by relating it to data beyond the business intelligence environment. For example, you can display a section of your internal corporate Web site that contains a business presentation related to the contents of the dashboard. Media widget supports only certain The information, see the Report ServicesHTML tags. For Document Creation Guide product manual.
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The following dashboard in Flash Mode includes a Media widget. Notice the Play Dashboard Demo button encircled at the top center of the dashboard. When a user clicks the button, a video file plays a recorded demonstration on how to use the dashboard.
Media Widget Dashboard Demo
By default, the video plays automatically when the document opens. However, the document designer can change this behavior when they define the properties for the Media widget (as explained later in this topic). At any time, the dashboard analyst can pause, rewind, stop, or replay the video in the Media widget.
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The dashboard below shows another example where the Media widget plays a video message from the CEO:
Media Widget Dashboard - CEO Message
Requirements for the Media Widget

To create a media widget, you must specify a media file to play in the widget. The media file can be stored: On an online source Locally on your machine Remotely on a corporate network stored on Files and accessthe network must have the required view privileges.
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The following types of files are acceptable for use in the Media widget: VideoThe Media widget can play only video in an .swf or .flv format AudioThe Media widget can play only audio in an .mp3 format ImagesThe Media widget can play only images in a .png, .jpg, .gif, or .svg format
Unlike other types of widgets, the Media widget does not require attributes or metrics on its widget template. The widget template is empty, but its Flash properties contain the information for the media file. You can configure the Media widget to play a media file based on the attribute element you select in a dashboard. For example, you can select a Quarter attribute element, such as Q1 2006, to display a CEOs video about the sales performance for that quarter. Similarly, you can choose a Region attribute element, such as Southwest, to play an audio clip about the performance of stores in that specific region. If you want to tie the Media widget to a specific attribute, you must then include the attribute in the Media widgets widget template. You can also play media files related to a document or dataset. For more information about playing a media file when you select a specific attribute element, document, or dataset, see Viewing Media Related to a Specific Attribute, Document, or Dataset starting on page 335.
Creating the Media Widget

To create the Media widget, as mentioned above, you need to include its widget template on the dashboard. You also need to specify the media file to play on the widget. For example, you can use a URL such as: http://www.mycompany.com/videos/SouthwestSales.swf
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The following procedure describes how to create a Media widget at a high level:
To create a Media widget:
1 On the Insert menu, point to Widgets, and select the Media Widget to add it to your document in MicroStrategy Web. 2 Click the location in your document in which to place the widget. The widget template displays as an empty standard grid container. Unless you want to configure the widget to play a media file based on the selection of a specific attribute element, leave the widget template empty. 3 Switch to Flash Mode. 4 Right-click the widget and select Properties. 5 In the Media Widget window, click the General tab. 6 In the Content Type drop-down list, choose the type of media to present by selecting Video, Audio, Web Content, or Image. 7 In the Default Feed box, type the location of the content: For a Flash video file stored on the network, you can use a folder location such as:
http://www.mycompany.com/Marketing/Sales Videos/SouthRegionSales.swf
For an online video, you can use a URL such as:
http://www.mycompany.com/videos/SouthRegionSales.swf
You must use an HTTP-based URL path.

8 If you select Web Content above and the Web content is located in a different Web domain than the one used for MicroStrategy Web, select the Use Proxy check box.
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9 If desired, in the Tooltip Text box, type text to display as a tooltip when the user hovers their cursor over the Play button. 10 If desired, format the background color of the Play button. 11 If desired, select the Popup content when clicked check box, which displays a small preview of the content when a user clicks the Play button. 12 In the Display Content drop-down list, select either Inline or New Window.
If you have selected New Window and you have trouble seeing the Media widget content after
clicking the Play button, your pop-up blocker might be preventing the new window from opening. Try switching this setting to Inline to see if you get better results. 13 In the Button Text box, type the text for the Play button. 14 Click the Play Frequency tab. 15 To display the Play button in the widget, select the Show Play Button Control check box. button does If the Playcontrolled bynot display, then media cannot be the user. It displays according to the play options selected in the Properties window. 16 To play the media file automatically when the dashboard opens, select the Auto Play on Start check box. 17 In the drop-down list, select Continuous Play to play the video continuously in the loop or select Play Once to play the video only once. 18 Click OK to apply the changes.
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Viewing Media Related to a Specific Attribute, Document, or Dataset

As mentioned previously, you can configure the Media widget to play video, audio, images or Web site content related to a specific attribute, document, or dataset. For example, when you select a specific store attribute element, a video recorded by the stores manager plays. Alternatively, the Media widget could play an audio update, show an image of the store, or display the stores home page, depending on how you configure the widget. To play media related to a specific attribute, you must specify the name of the attribute when you define the location of the media file. For example, several sales videos on your corporate Web site are devoted to different region locations. The sales videos are named East.swf, West.swf, and so on. You can specify the location of a video as the following in the Flash Properties window of the Media widget: http://www.mycompany.com/videos/{[Region]}.swf This ensures that different elements within the Region attribute, such as East or West, trigger specific videos to play. For example, when a dashboard user chooses West from a grid or a selector, the sales video for West plays. Since the videos URL is dynamic, it displays video corresponding to the attribute element you select. To play media files related to a document or a dataset, you insert the document or dataset name in the URL in the following format: {[#name of document#]} or {[#name of dataset#]} # Notice the orsymbols before and after the name of the document dataset.
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Attribute-Specific Media Example

The following document contains a grid that lists regions and profit. When a user selects a region and then clicks the Play region-specific video button, the Media widget plays the video file associated with that particular region.
Region-Specific Video Example in Flash Mode
The document displays as follows in Design Mode:

Region-Specific Video Example in Design Mode
The Region attribute in the grid is defined as a selector with the Media widget as its target. The Media widgets Default Feed Flash property uses the dynamic {[Region]}.swf reference in the URL.
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The following procedure describes how to view media related to a specific attribute in the dashboard in more detail.
To view media related to a specific attribute in the dashboard:
procedure assumes that you have ThisMedia widget to the document. already added the
Place report objects on the widget template
1 From the Dataset Objects pane, place the attributes that will determine the type of content the Media widget plays on the widget template. For example, if you want the Media widget to play content specific to a particular region when a user selects a region from a grid or graph, add the Region attribute to the widget template. 2 Do one of the following to set the Media widget as the target of the attribute or selector on the document: If the attribute is on a grid/graph, right-click the attribute on the grid/graph and select Use as Selector. Set the Media widget as the target of the selector. If the attribute is part of a selector, right-click the selector and select Select Target. Set the Media widget as the target of the selector.
View the Media widget in Flash Mode
3 Switch to Flash Mode. 4 Right-click the widget and select Properties. 5 In the Properties window, click the General tab. 6 In the Content Type drop-down list, choose the type of media to present by selecting Video, Audio, Web Content, or Image.
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7 In the Default Feed box, specify the location of the content: To display media stored on the network, use the following format:
http://www.mycompany.com/videos/{[Region]}.swf, where Region is the name of the attribute element for which a unique media file plays. 8 Click the Play Frequency tab and proceed to define the appropriate properties for how you want the media content to play. 9 Click OK to apply the changes. 10 Click a corresponding attribute element in the dashboard to play media related to it.
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Waterfall Widget
After completing this topic, you will be able to: Create the Waterfall widget and understand its purpose.
A Waterfall widget highlights the increments and decrements of the values of metrics over time. Analysts can use the widget to identify the aspects of the business that are contributing to the fluctuations in the values. The widget can also be used to perform "what if" analysis. The widget consists of a group of clustered bars displayed from left to right. The X-axis contains either attribute elements or metrics, depending on where the attributes and metrics are placed on the widget's template in Design Mode or Editable Mode. The Y-axis displays a range of values based on the metrics on the widget's template.
Waterfall Widget Example
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In the widget example, metrics are displayed along the X-axis. The first bar (in grey) represents the amount of sales revenue generated in 2005. The remaining bars in the widget represent the remaining metrics on the X-axis, including the Depreciation and Tax Expense metrics. These bars depict the business factors that diminished revenue and one factor (the Other Gains and Losses metric) that increased revenue. As a group, these bars highlight the contributions of various aspects of the business on total revenue from sales. This final value is represented by the last bar on the right, which represents Net Income for 2005.
Data Requirements for the Waterfall Widget

To successfully render a Waterfall widget, you must place report objects on the widget template as described in the table below:
Waterfall Data Requirements
Rows Rows can contain any of the following: No attributes or metricsIn this case, you must place attributes and metrics on the columns, or only metrics on the columns. One or more attributes and/or metricsThe attribute elements display on the X-axis. Metrics on the rows display as the increment and decrement bars along the X-axis in the widget. When both attributes and metrics are placed on the rows, a combination of those objects displays on the X-axis. Note: The widget template cannot consist of only attributes. Columns Columns can contain any of the following: No attributes and one or more metrics One or more attributes and/or metricsMetrics on the columns are displayed in the legend. Bars based on the values of those metrics are displayed in the widget. The elements of attributes placed on the columns display in the legend. When attributes and metrics are placed on the columns, a combination of those objects displays in the X-axis.
The Waterfall widget does not require a separate selector to enable the user to interact with it. However, you can use it as a selector.
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The following is an example of a valid arrangement of report objects on a Waterfall widget template where the rows contain only metrics and the metric values produce the increment and decrement bars. This is the widget template for the previous example:
Waterfall Widget Template - All Metrics on Rows
If you use this type of object arrangement in the Waterfall widget template, the order of the metrics on the rows controls the order of the increment and decrement bars on the widget. To render the widget properly, in the Flash properties, you must select the Increments/Decrements Provided check box. Another possible arrangement for a Waterfall widget template is the following, where the combination of the FD Account attribute and the Amount Item metric produces the values for the increment and decrement bars:
Waterfall Widget Template - Attributes and Metrics
In this scenario, the widget automatically determines how to display the increment and decrement bars based on the values for each FD Account. To render the widget properly, in the Flash properties, you must clear the Increments/Decrements Provided check box.
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This widget template in Editable Mode produces the following results:

Waterfall Widget Template - Attributes and Metrics Grid
In Flash Mode, this Waterfall widget displays as follows:

Waterfall Widget - Attributes and Metrics
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Formatting the Waterfall Widget

You can control most of the Waterfall widgets formatting properties by defining them in Editable Mode. For example, font colors and number formats you assign to the widget template in Editable Mode carry through when the widget displays in Flash Mode. To apply additional formatting options that are specific to the Waterfall widget, switch to Flash Mode, right-click the widget, and select Properties. Within the Flash Mode properties, you can control the following types of formatting:
Flash Formatting Options for Waterfall Widget
Option Colors for increment and decrement bars and borders How to Format It Right-click the Waterfall widget and select Properties. In the Waterfall window, Color tab, with the Apply Increment/Decrement Color check box selected, select the desired colors for Increments Base Color, Decrements Base Color, and Border Color. You can also Apply Shadow Effects on Bars. Select this check box if you want the widget to inherit the graph formatting defined on the widget template in Editable Mode. If the data in the widget template contains the amount of increase or decrease per period, select this check box. If you want the widget to compute the increments and decrements, clear this check box. Specify whether the final bar is calculated by the widget or provided by the Grid/Graph data. The final bar is located on the far right of the widget. In the Text for Last Entry box, type the label for the bar on the far right of the widget. The default text is Final. This option is available only if the final bar is calculated by the widget. Choose whether to display or hide lines connecting adjacent bars of the same series. This option is only available if the widget contains a single series.
Inherit graph formatting
Increments/Decrements Provided
Final Bar Provided
Text for Last Entry
Add Connecting Lines
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Flash Formatting Options for Waterfall Widget

Option Show Additional Series in Tooltips Stagger but Do Not Drop X-Axis Labels How to Format It This option is available only if the Grid/Graph contains attributes and metrics on different axes. By default, the labels are displayed on a single line rather than in staggered lines. If this option is selected, all the labels are displayed, and none are removed from the widget. Specify a number, from 0 to 10, for the number of target lines you want the widget to display. Users can move the target lines up and down on the widget. What-if analysis allows you to modify the size of bars using bar handlers. Increasing or decreasing the size of a bar affects the values in the widget. You can also review the history of changes to the bar size, and reset the bars to their original values. Select this check box if you want each bar to display a handler. The handlers enable users to perform the what if analysis. Increasing or decreasing the size of a bar affects the values in the widget.
Number of Target Lines
Enable What-if Analysis
Show Bar Handlers
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Fish Eye Selector Widget

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use the Fish Eye Selector widget to display a selector in a custom format.
The Fish Eye is an interactive, Flash-only selector widget. Selector widgets look like standard selectors in Editable, Interactive, and View Modes, but are formatted differently in Flash Mode and become interactive when a user hovers the cursor over them. The Fish Eye selector addresses the challenge of scrolling through a long list of elements and selecting items from the list. With the Fish Eye selector, you can view the entire list of elements on the screen and scale up or down a few elements at a time. The elements you mouse over or select automatically become magnified, while the remaining elements are minimized and displayed in the background of the selector. The example below shows a list of states in a traditional Listbox (on the left) as compared to the same Listbox with the Fish Eye Flash display option enabled (on the right):
Traditional Listbox Selector vs. Fish Eye Selector Widget
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Notice how the traditional Listbox requires a scroll bar for viewing the entire contents of the selector. The Fish Eye selector, on the other hand, lets you view the entire list of states and automatically enlarges a particular state as you mouse over it. When you select a state, the Fish Eye selector displays it in a different color and with a drop shadow effect. The following image shows another example of a Fish Eye Selector in a dashboard:
Fish Eye Selector in Sales by Customer State Dashboard
example, run the Sales by Customer State To see thisin the Shared Reports\Dashboards and document Scorecards folder.
Methods for Creating a Fish Eye Selector Widget

You can create a Fish Eye selector widget as a selector or as a grid/graph.
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To enable a selector to display as a Fish Eye selector:
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Insert a new selector by doing one of the following: On the Insert menu, point to Selector, and select Fish Eye. OR On the Insert toolbar, click the Selector button drop-down list and select Fish Eye. OR If you already have a selector on the document, right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout. 4 Under Selector, in the Flash Style drop-down list, select Fish Eye. 5 Switch to Flash Mode to view the Fish Eye selector. You can define the Fish Eye selector widget to display in any of the DHTML document display modes (View Mode, Interactive Mode, and Editable Mode) with the Listbox style, the Button Bar style, the Link Bar style, and so on. The Fish Eye selector permits you to make a single selection from the list of elements. However, you can press the CTRL key to multiselect elements. Also, if you have the All option enabled for the selector, you can select the All element to view all elements simultaneously in the target.
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Defining a Fish Eye Selector from a Grid/Graph

You can also create a Fish Eye selector by defining it from a grid/graph object on a document. In the example shown below, the grid on the left is actually a widget template, defined to display in Flash Mode as the Fish Eye widget. It works as a selector because the Customer State attribute targets the graph on the right:
Fish Eye Widget Template in Editable Mode
When you view the same document in Flash Mode, it displays as follows:
Fish Eye Widget Template in Flash Mode
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Formatting a Fish Eye Selector

The Fish Eye selector inherits certain formatting properties, such as orientation, font color, and so forth, which you define in Design or Editable Mode. You can apply additional formatting to the Fish Eye selector using the Flash properties, as described in the table below:
Flash Formatting Options for Fish Eye Selector Widget
Formatting Option Change the colors for the highlight color and selected color Change the spacing between elements How to Format It In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. On the General tab, under Colors, choose colors on the Highlight color and Selected color menus. In the Flash Properties window, on the Advanced tab, disable the Auto check box. Type the value for the spacing between elements on the list. The default scale is the factor used to scale the items in the normal state. In the Flash Properties window, on the Advanced tab, disable the Auto check box. Type the value for the Default scale. For a typical list of 20 items, a default max scale of 0.65 works well. The Max scale is the factor used to enlarge the items in the list. This factor determines that maximum size that an element can be enlarged when moused over. In the Flash Properties window, on the Advanced tab, disable the Auto check box. Type the value for the Max scale. The scale radius represents the number of elements on each side of the highlighted or selected item. This number includes the selected item. In the Flash Properties window, on the Advanced tab, disable the Auto check box. Type the value for the Scale radius. Note: The selector looks best when you set the scale radius to approximately 1/5 of the total number of elements. For example, for a typical list of 20 items, the recommended scale radius is 4.
Default scale
Max scale
Scale radius
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Flash Formatting Options for Fish Eye Selector Widget

Formatting Option Scale slope How to Format It The scale slope determines the rate of change in the scale factor for contiguous elements as the distance from the central element increases. The higher its value, the least amount of change in size of text as the distance increases. In the Flash Properties window, on the Advanced tab, disable the Auto check box. Type the value for the Scale slope. The animation speed controls the speed of the magnification effect. In the Flash Properties window, on the Advanced tab, disable the Auto check box. Type the value for the desired Animation speed. Note: The default value, .3, works well for a long list of elements and scaling factors.
Animation speed
Using Images in Fish Eye Selectors

The Fish Eye selector widget can display images instead of text elements. When a user clicks an image, the target panel stack or grid/graphs automatically update to show related data. To use images in the Fish Eye selector widget, you must specify the URL location and file names for the images in the widgets Flash properties. By using dynamic text in the URL, such as {Item@ID}, each element in the selector can display a distinct image file named for its attribute element ID. on Fish For informationsee displaying images in theonlineEye selector widget, the MicroStrategy Web help.
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Date Selection Widget

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Use a Date Selection Widget in documents that display in Flash Mode.
The Date Selection widget is a calendar selector. It shows you all of the dates for each month and makes it easier to browse across months. In the example shown below, the Date Selection widget shows the dates for December 2009 and it controls the contents of the grid on the right:
Like the Fish Eye selector widget, you can create the Date Selection widget from a selector or from a grid/graph. Depending on which method you choose, the Date Selection widgets look will vary when you switch to any of the DHTML document display modes.
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To create a Date Selection widget from a grid/graph:
assumes that you already have This procedurethe document which you want toadefine grid/graph on as a Date Selection selector widget and that the Day attribute on the grid/graph targets another grid/graph or panel stack. 1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Right-click the grid/graph which you want to define as the Date Selection selector and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 4 Under Widget, in the Selected Widget drop-down list, select Date Selection. 5 Click OK. 6 Switch to Flash Mode to view the Date Selection selector widget.
Formatting a Date Selection Selector Widget

You can control the following types of formatting for a Date Selection widget in the widgets Flash properties:
Flash Formatting Options for Date Selection Widget
Formatting Option Background color of the calendar Border color Rollover color Selected color First day of the week on the calendar
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Flash Formatting Options for Date Selection Widget

Formatting Option Highlight Today Font type, size, color and effect for different parts of the calendar
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Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode

After completing this topic, you will be able to: List the widgets that can be displayed in both Flash Mode and Interactive Mode.
You can view the following widgets in Interactive Mode as well as Flash Mode:
Flash Widgets Available in Interactive Mode and Flash Mode
Widget Bubble Grid Data Cloud Date Selection Fish Eye Selector Funnel Gauge Graph Matrix Heat Map Interactive Bubble Graph Media Microcharts RSS Reader Waterfall
You can view the following widgets only in Flash Mode:

Flash Widgets in Flash Mode Only
Widget Cylinder Interactive Stacked Graph Thermometer
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Flash Widgets in Flash Mode Only

Widget Time Series Slider Weighted List Viewer
To enable users to view a Flash widget in Interactive Mode:
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode. 2 Right-click the widget template and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 4 Under Widget, in the DHTML rendering drop-down list, select Same as Widget. 5 Click OK. 6 Switch to Interactive Mode to view the widget.
Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode
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Exercises
Widgets As Selectors
Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with using an Interactive Stacked Graph widget as a selector to control the output of a grid on the same document. After you complete the exercise, your document should resemble the following image:
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If you do not want to follow the detailed step-by-step instructions to perform the exercise, use the following high-level steps instead: 1 Create a report called ISG_Dataset that contains the following: Month in the rows Region and Revenue in the columns Report filter for 2009
2 Create a report called ISG_Target that contains the following: Month in the rows Region, Call Center, and Units Sold in the columns Report filter for 2009
3 Convert the ISG_Dataset into a document. 4 The document should contain the following components: Interactive Stacked Graph widget, based on the dataset you created in step 1. A grid, based on the dataset you created in step 2.
Position the widget above the grid.

5 Enable Flash Mode as the default display mode for the document. 6 Study the document in Flash Mode. When you select a data point on the legend or graph does the grid change at all? 7 Define the Region attribute on the widget template so that it controls the target grid. 8 Switch to Flash Mode and select an element from the legend. Does it impact the grid? 9 Switch back to Design Mode.
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10 Define the Month attribute on the widget template so that it too controls the target grid.
Enable the Show option for All check box for the Month.
11 Switch to Flash Mode and select any data point from the bottom area graph (as shown in the image at the beginning of this exercise). Does the grid change at all? 12 Change the widgets Flash properties so that the widget graph, not the legend, is the selectable area. 13 Click any data point on the bottom area graph again. Does the grid change? 14 To display data for all months on the grid, skip to step 40 in the Detailed Instructions.
Create the dataset
1 Create a new report containing the following objects:
Remember to include the report filter for 2009.

2 Run the report and study the results.
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3 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it ISG_Dataset.

Create the target grids dataset
4 Create another report defined as follows:
5 Run the report and study the results. 6 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it ISG_Target.
Convert the ISG_Dataset into a Document
7 On the My Reports page, right-click the ISG_Dataset and select Convert to Document. 8 In the Document Editor, in the Detail Header section, right-click the grid and select Properties and Formatting. 9 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 10 In the Selected Widgets drop-down list, select Interactive Stacked Graph.
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11 Click OK. on the Insert menu or the Insert Alternatively,can select the appropriate widget to toolbar, you insert it into the document. After the blank widget template displays in the Layout area, you can add the attributes and metrics from the dataset to define the widget template. 12 Add the ISG_Target as a dataset to the document. 13 With the Detail Header selected, right-click the ISG_Target and select Add to Section with Formatting. 14 Size and position this grid below the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, as shown below:
Enable Flash Mode as the default display mode
15 On the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 16 In the Document Properties window, under Document Properties, select Document. 17 Under Run Modes, in the Run by default as drop-down list, select Flash. 18 Click OK. 19 Switch to Flash Mode.
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20 Click the Mid-Atlantic element in the legend. Does your Mid-Atlantic selection have any impact on the grid below the widget? 21 Click any data point on the bottom portion of the widgets graph. Does your selection have any impact on the grid?
Define the widgets Region attribute as a Selector
22 Switch back to Design Mode. 23 In the columns of the widget template, right-click the Region attribute and select Use as Selector. 24 Switch to Flash Mode. 25 Click the Northeast element in the legend and observe the results. 26 Click any data point on the bottom portion of the widgets graph. Does your selection have any impact on the grid?
Define the widgets Month attribute as a Selector
27 Switch back to Design Mode. 28 In the rows of the widget template, right-click the Month attribute and select Use as Selector. 29 In the rows of the widget template, right-click the Month attribute and select Edit Selector. 30 In the Configure Selector window, select the Show option for All check box. 31 Click OK. 32 Switch to Flash Mode. 33 Click any data point on the bottom portion of the widgets graph. Does your selection have any impact on the grid? 34 To be able to use the graph as a selector, you must enable a Flash property. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties.
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35 In the Interactive Stacked Graph window, under Selectors, in the Selectable Area drop-down list, select Graph. 36 Click OK. 37 Click any data point on the bottom portion of the graph and notice how the graph now controls the grid below the widget. 38 To display all months, click any portion of the plotted area graph that is not a specific data point, as shown below:
39 Save the document, naming it Widget as Selector Practice.
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Graph Matrix Widget

Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with creating a Graph Matrix widget. First, you will create the dataset that serves as the source data for the widget. Then, you will create the document. You will include the Graph Matrix widget and define its Flash formatting properties. At the end of the exercise, your document should resemble the following image:
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Create the Dataset
1 Create a new report, defined as follows:
The Revenue Forecast metric is located in the Sales Metrics\Forecast Metrics folder.
2 Run the report and study the results. 3 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Graph Matrix Dataset.
Convert the Graph Matrix Dataset into a Document
4 In the My Reports folder, right-click the Graph Matrix Dataset and select Convert to Document. 5 In the Document Editor, In the Detail Header section, right-click the grid, select View Mode, and select Graph View. 6 Right-click the graph and select Properties and Formatting. 7 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash. 8 Under Widgets, in the Selected Widget drop-down list, select Graph Matrix.
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9 Click OK. 10 Use the Document Properties window to enable Flash as the default display mode.
Analyze the Graph Matrix
11 Switch to Flash Mode. 12 Double-click the Northeast, Books graph to maximize it. 13 As you study the results, answer the following questions: Which attribute represents the X-axis of the graph? Which metric represents the line graph? Which metric represents the colored series in the area graph? What does the black horizontal line represent? What does the red horizontal line represent?
14 Close the Northeast, Books graph and study it compared to the other graphs along the same row. For the Northeast region, how did the Books category perform as compared to the Movies and Music categories, particularly when you compare the values on the Y-axis?
15 As you study all of the graphs in the Graph Matrix, can you identify the best performing category overall? 16 Right-click the widget and select Properties. 17 In the Graph Matrix window, clear the Reference line check box. 18 Click OK to apply the formatting change and study the results. Which reference line disappears? The black horizontal line, the red horizontal line, or both?
19 Right-click the widget again, select Properties, and select the Uniform axis check box.
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20 Click OK to apply the formatting change and study the results: When you use a uniform axis for all of the graphs, what analysis can you perform at a glance?
21 Using the Flash formatting properties, disable the uniform axis once again and click OK. 22 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Graph Matrix Practice.
Microcharts Widget
Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with creating a Microcharts widget. First, you learn how to define the Microcharts widget to display a sparkline. Then, you will edit the display properties to include a bar. Finally, you will add more metrics to the widget template to display all three microcharts: the sparkline, the bar, and the bullet. At the end of the exercise, your document should resemble the following image:
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Create the document
1 On the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click the Create Document link. 2 On the Create Document page, click 01 Blank Dashboard. 3 Add the Regional Case Summary report, located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Customer Support Dashboard folder, as a dataset. 4 In the Layout area, click Add Content, select Widgets, and select Microcharts. 5 Add the following attributes from the dataset to the rows of the widget template: Region Month
6 Add the following metrics from the dataset to the columns of the widget template: Open Cases Open Cases (LY)
7 Switch to Flash Mode. 8 As you study the results, answer the following questions: Which metric represents the fluctuations in the sparkline? Which metric represents the horizontal reference line? How are the months represented in Flash Mode?
9 Change the following Flash properties for the Sparkline: Enable the All points check box.
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Clear the Associated metric check box. Change the label header to 12 Month Trend (Open Cases). Set the background opacity to 60%.
10 Click OK to apply all of the formatting changes and study the results. Your results should resemble the following image:
the column sizes in Flash Mode by You can adjustcursor to locate the sizing handles hovering your for each column.
Enable the bar microcharts display
11 After reviewing the changes to the sparkline, use the Flash formatting properties to include the following formatting changes for the bar: Select the Show bar graph check box. Select the Reference line check box. Change the bar label header to 12 Month Trend Min/Max. Change the bar colors so that the positive value is blue. Change the reference line color to green.
12 Save the document, naming it Microcharts Practice.
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At this point, you have created a document that displays both a sparkline and a bar. You could potentially leave the dashboard as is. However, if you want to include a bullet, you need to add more metrics to the widget template. This next portion of the exercise teaches you how to define the bullet.
Add metrics to the widget template for the bullet
13 Back in Design Mode, using the Document Properties, enable Flash Mode as the default display mode for the dashboard. 14 Add the following metrics to the right of the existing metrics on the widget template, in this order: Cases Closed Max Cases Closed Low Cases Closed Med Cases Closed Target Cases Closed
15 Switch to Flash Mode. 16 As you study the results, answer the following questions: Which metric represents the vertical reference line in the bullet? Which metric represents the right-most boundary for Band1 (the darkest band)? Which metric represents the right-most boundary for Band2 (the middle band)? Which metric represents the maximum possible value in the bullet? Which metric represents the length of the performance bar (the dark blue bar) in the bullet? Which region exceeded its target? Which region fell farthest below its target?
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17 Edit the Flash formatting properties as follows: Change the bullet label to % to Goal (Closed Cases). Change the bullet colors so that the performance bar (Positive values) is dark grey (or any color you like). In the Microcharts window, in the bullet options, notice that the associated metric is enabled by default. Leave this option as is.
18 Save the document again.

Add another metric
19 Back in Design Mode, add the New Cases metric as the last metric in the columns of the widget template. 20 Switch to Flash Mode. Did the New Cases metric impact the sparkline, bar, or bullet microcharts? Why or why not? 21 Optional: Test out the various operation modes for the Microcharts widget. 22 Save the document. You will use it again for the next exercise.
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Media Widget
Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with creating a Media widget. You will add the widget to the Microcharts Practice dashboard from the previous exercise. At the end of the exercise, your document should resemble the following image:
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1 Open the Microcharts Practice document in Design Mode. 2 In the Layout area, select the Microcharts widget template and resize it, leaving space at the top of the placeholder panel stack for another widget template. 3 On the Insert menu, select Widgets, and select Media. 4 Place the Media widget template on the top middle portion of the placeholder, as shown below:
5 Switch to Flash Mode. 6 When the Please enter the URL window displays, click OK. 7 Right-click the Media widget and select Properties. 8 In the Media window, on the General tab, define the following properties: Content Type: Video Default Feed: http://localhost/demo4.swf
classroom computer should Yourserves as the media source forstore the .swf file that this exercise. However, if you are using a central Web server, replace localhost with the IP address provided by your instructor. Use Proxy: Disabled Tooltip Text: Click to view a dashboard demo Popup content when clicked: Enabled
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Display Content: New Window Button Text: Play Dashboard Demo
9 Click OK to exit the window. 10 Click the Play Dashboard Demo button to play the demo. 11 Maximize the demo window to view the entire dashboard. the audio portion of the To hear unmute your computer. demo file, you might need to 12 After watching some of the demo, close the demo window. 13 Save the document, naming it Media Widget Practice.
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Fish Eye and Date Selection Selector Widgets

Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with the Fish Eye and Date Selection selector widgets. At the end of the exercise, your document should resemble the following image:
1 Create a new document, based on the 01 Blank Dashboard dashboard template. 2 Add the Daily Regional Category Data report, located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Datasets\Corporate Sales Overview folder, as a dataset. 3 With the placeholder panel stack selected, on the Insert menu, select Selector, and select Date Selection.
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4 Position the Date Selection selector widget in the top left corner of the placeholder (as shown in the image below). 5 Using the Insert menu, add a Fish Eye selector widget to the placeholder and position it in the bottom left corner. 6 Add a Gauge widget to the top right corner of the placeholder, which contains the Call Center attribute on the rows and the Profit metric on the columns of the widget template. 7 Add another Gauge widget to the bottom right corner of the placeholder, which contains the Call Center attribute on the rows and the Profit Margin metric on the columns. The document in Design Mode should display as follows:
8 Using the properties, define the Date Selection selector widget as follows: Source: Day Target: Both grid/graphs Show option for All: Disabled
9 Using the properties, define the Fish Eye selector widget as follows: Source: Call Center
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Target: Both grid/graphs Show option for All: Disabled
10 Change the default display mode to Flash Mode. 11 Save the document to My Reports, naming it Fish Eye and Date Selection Selectors. 12 Run the document in Flash Mode. 13 Test the interactivity of the selectors with the gauges.
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Answers Exercise
Graph Matrix Exercise
13) As you study the results, answer the following questions: Which attribute represents the X-axis of the graphs? Month Which metric represents the line graph? Revenue Forecast Which metric represents the colored series in the area graph? Revenue What does the black horizontal line represent? The average for that specific graph What does the red horizontal line represent? The average for all of the graphs on that row
14) Close the Northeast, Books graph and study it compared to the other graphs along the same row. For the Northeast region, how did the Books category perform as compared to the Movies and Music categories, particularly when you compare the values on the Y-axis? It performed worse than the other two.
15) As you study all of the graphs in the Graph Matrix, can you identify the best performing category overall? Movies 18) Click OK to apply the formatting change and study the results. Which reference line disappears? The black horizontal line, the red horizontal line, or both? Both
20) Click OK to apply the formatting change and study the results:
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When you use a uniform axis for all of the graphs, what analysis can you perform at a glance? You can analyze the category that outperformed the others across the same row (within the same region). You can also see which region might stand out as outperforming all other regions for all categories (like Northeast).
Microcharts Exercise
8) As you study the results, answer the following questions: Which metric represents the fluctuations in the sparkline? Open Cases Which metric represents the horizontal reference line? Open Cases (LY) How are the months represented in Flash Mode? They control the X-axis.
16) As you study the results, answer the following questions: Which metric represents the vertical reference line in the bullet? Target Cases Closed Which metric represents the right-most boundary for Band1 (the darkest band)? Low Cases Closed Which metric represents the right-most boundary for Band2 (the middle band)? Med Cases Closed Which metric represents the maximum possible value in the bullet? Max Closed Cases Which metric represents the length of the performance bar (the dark blue bar) in the bullet? Cases Closed Which region exceeded its target? Northeast Which region fell farthest below its target? Mid-Atlantic
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20) Switch to Flash Mode. Did the New Cases metric impact the sparkline, bar, or bullet microcharts? Why or why not? No, because it is the eighth metric on the widget template so it displays as a regular metric to the right of the bullet.
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Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: You can use report objects on a widget template to make the widget behave like a selector for the several types of widgets. If you define the Time Series Slider widget to act as a selector, the primary graph at the bottom of the widget is the portion that controls other panel stacks or grid/graphs on the document. If you define the Interactive Stacked Graph widget to act as a selector, you can specify either the legend or the graph as the portion that controls other panel stacks or grid/graphs on the document. The Bubble Grid widget shows trends or anomalies in data, relative to the total contribution of accompanying data. The Data Cloud widget displays attribute elements in various sizes to depict the differences in metric values between the elements. The Graph Matrix widget displays multiple series of data in a combined graph and line chart. One graph displays for every combination of elements from the attributes on the widget templates rows and columns. The Microcharts widget consists of one or more microcharts, which are compact charts integrated into a grid of data that enable analysts to quickly identify trends. Depending on how you define the widget template, the Microcharts widget can display a bar, a sparkline, and/or a bullet. The Media widget enables dashboard users to view a variety of media content, such as audio, video, images, or Web site content on a Flash dashboard. The Waterfall widget highlights the increments and decrements of the values of metrics over time.
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The Fish Eye selector widget enables you to view the entire list of elements on the screen and scale up or down a few elements at a time. The Date Selection selector widget is a calendar widget that shows you all of the dates for each month and makes it easier to browse across months. You can enable certain widgets to display effectively in Interactive Mode, while others can display only in Flash Mode.
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DOCUMENT PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will learn how documents with DHTML and Flash output formats run in MicroStrategy Web and how to optimize them for better performance.
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Document Performance Considerations
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Explain how documents with DHTML and Flash output formats run in MicroStrategy Web and understand how to optimize them for better performance.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the process by which documents in DHTML and Flash formats are generated in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 385) Describe the impact of dataset performance, document data preparation, and various document objects on overall document performance. (Page 392) Describe solutions to several document performance challenges. (Page 415) Understand a methodology for troubleshooting document performance issues and apply many optimization techniques to improve the performance of your documents. (Page 419)
Document Execution Flow

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe the process by which documents in DHTML and Flash formats are generated in MicroStrategy Web.
Document performance depends on several factors, including the following:

Document Performance Factors
Factor Users Details Types of users Number of users Hardware CPU utilization on the Intelligence Server Memory on Intelligence Server and the Web server Disk usage on Intelligence Server Network performance between Intelligence Server, the Web server, and the client browser Load Mix User concurrencyNumber of users who run documents simultaneously Report complexityNumber of rows and columns, types of filters, types of report objects (consolidations, custom groups, and so on) BI functionalityTypes of BI manipulations Number of jobsNumber of jobs being executed simultaneously by Intelligence Server from different MicroStrategy applications (Desktop, MicroStrategy Office, MicroStrategy Mobile, Distribution Services, and so on) Likely load mixTypes of jobs being executed simultaneously by Intelligence Server from different MicroStrategy applications Business RequirementsComplexity of the document and its interactivity
When evaluating a documents performance, you must consider all of these factors together.
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To improve document performance, it helps to understand how documents are processed.
Execution Flow
The MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials course introduced you to the following diagram, which illustrates the document execution process at a high level:
Document Execution Flow - High Level
386 Document Execution Flow
To understand the process at a deeper level, it helps to break the execution flow down into steps:
Document Execution Flow - Detailed Steps
The table below explains each step shown above:

Step 1 Process A MicroStrategy Web user runs a document that is defined to display in either DHTML or Flash in their browser. The MicroStrategy Web channels the request to Intelligence Server. Intelligence Server opens a document instance. If the document has any prompted datasets, Intelligence Server sends a request back to the user for answers.
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Step 5 Process With all prompt answers provided and any security filters resolved, Intelligence Server checks to see if any dataset caches are available. If valid caches exist, Intelligence Server moves directly to document preparation. If any of the datasets are Intelligent Cube reports, Intelligence Server hits the Intelligent Cube to retrieve the data. If no caches exist and the datasets are not Intelligent Cube reports, Intelligence Server runs the datasets against the data warehouse or another data source just like it runs standard reports. After the data is retrieved, Intelligence Server prepares the document data by creating the virtual dataset. After the document data preparation phase, Intelligence Server produces an XML file for a document that displays in any of the DHTML modes. For a document that displays in Flash Mode, it produces a Data file (in Binary format) and a Definition file (in XML format). For a document that displays in PDF, it creates a binary file. With the output files ready, Intelligence Server sends the files to MicroStrategy Web. For a document that displays in DHTML, MicroStrategy Web on the Web server converts the documents XML file into DHTML. For a document that displays in Flash Mode, MicroStrategy Web adds the Data file (Binary) and Definition file to additional required files (such as the DashboardViewer.swf file). PDF files require no further processing on the Web server. The MicroStrategy Web sends the appropriate files to the client Web browser for final rendering.
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On the client browser, documents that display in the DHTML modes require extra steps for rendering, as described below:
Document Rendering in DHTML on Web Browser
Step 11 Process Resources are loaded and JavaScript actions take place to render the document in DHTML.
Documents that display in Flash Mode require the following additional steps on the client browser:
Document Rendering for Flash Mode on Web Browser
Step 11 12 13 Process The Flash instance creates a document instance. Flash loads the DashboardViewer.swf file. Flash renders the document.
document rendering For more information on theto the MicroStrategy process in Flash Mode, refer Knowledge Base.
Document Files for DHTML and Flash Formats

Documents that display in DHTML produce XML files that MicroStrategy Web converts into DHTML. Documents that display in Flash Mode produce two files: Data filestored in binary format, which reduces the file size by 50% compared to XML Definition XML filestored in XML format
MicroStrategy Web combines these files with the following additional files for final rendering on the client browser: Image files (if required on the document) Widget files (if required on the document) DashboardViewer.swf
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Depending on the browserissettings, the on the DashboardViewer.swf file typically cached

client browser after the user executes the first document in Flash Mode in their browser session. To improve a Flash documents performance, it is recommended that you enable caching on the browser. Otherwise the DashboardViewer.swf file will be transmitted from the server to the client with every Flash document request, thus degrading performance.
Data File
The Data file for a document in Flash Mode contains the data necessary to render the document. Its size depends largely on how much data is associated with each document object. Therefore, the number of grid/graphs, selectors, and grouping objects, as well as the size and number of datasets directly impact the size of the Data file. This file typically contributes 95% of the total document size. Any dataset optimizations or document structure optimizationssuch as reducing the number of grid/graphs and thereby reducing their associated amount of datathat you can perform on the document will help to reduce the size of the Data file.
In previous versions of MicroStrategy Report Services, the Data file was stored in XML format.
Keeping the Data file smaller provides better performance for the document. The table below displays the sizing considerations for the Data file:
Data File Sizes
File Size <1 MB Performance Level Optimum (Recommended)
1 to 5 MB Acceptable >5 MB Slow (Not Recommended)
Definition XML File

The Definition XML file contains the formatting and properties for each object on a document as well as the documents overall structure. Typically, this file contributes a very small portion of the overall size of a document. Its size varies depending on how many objects are included in the document. However, the more panels you add to panel stacks and the more formatting changes you apply to selectors, headers, nested panels, and grid/graphs, the greater the size of this file. The table below displays sizing considerations for the Definition XML file:
Definition XML File Sizes
File Size <500 KB 500 KB to 1MB >1 MB Performance Level Optimum (Recommended) Acceptable Slow (Not Recommended)
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Document Performance Optimizations

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe the impact of dataset performance, document data preparation, and various document objects on overall document performance.
Dataset Performance Considerations

In the Report Services: Document Essentials course, you learned several techniques for optimizing datasets in documents. The following table provides a review of those concepts:
Dataset Optimizations
Task Remove any unnecessary datasets and combine datasets where possible Remove any unused metrics in existing datasets Keep datasets to the appropriate level of aggregation, avoiding lower-level attributes if data is not required at that detailed level Test datasets for performance Enable report caching In cases where all of the data in the document is derived from a single published Intelligent Cube, use the Intelligent Cube as the dataset rather than building reports from the Intelligent Cube and adding them as datasets to the document. Using the Intelligent Cube as the single dataset improves the documents execution time.
Remember that all datasets are executed in parallel, using resources such as Intelligence Server CPU and Intelligence Server memory.
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The table below displays sizing considerations for documents, depending on the number of datasets:
Number of Datasets
# of Datasets 1 to 5 5 to 10 >10 Performance Level Optimum (Recommended) Acceptable Slow (Not Recommended)
The table below displays sizing considerations for datasets, depending on the amount of data they contain:
Dataset Sizes Depending on Data
Dataset Size (Bytes) <250 KB Between 250 KB and 1.5 MB >1.5 MB Data Size (Cells) < 6,500 Between 6,500 and 25,000 > 25,000 Performance Level Optimum (Recommended) Acceptable Slow (Not Recommended)
Document Preparation Considerations

In the Document Essentials course, you learned that during the document execution process Intelligence Server combines the data from all datasets into a virtual dataset. Before the virtual dataset is created, dashboard components are mapped to individual metrics and attributes within a dataset. After the mappings take place, Intelligence Server combines the datasets into the virtual dataset. When a user runs a document, Intelligence Server combines the grouping selections, selector selections, and the virtual dataset, generates the XML for the document, and passes it to the Web server to generate appropriate output files. Intelligence Server constructs the virtual dataset only once. The virtual dataset is the combination of matching and non-matching data elements between the datasets.
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Document designers can control the way datasets are combined in the virtual dataset by specifying primary and secondary datasets. This feature makes it possible to limit the size of the virtual dataset by controlling how the datasets are joined. information on primary For morerefer to the MicroStrategyand secondary datasets, Report Services: Document Essentials course or the Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual. Also, as you design a document, you might consider calculating approximately how many rows and columns the final virtual dataset contains. For example, a document with 3 panel stacks x 4 panels x 100 rows x 10 years x 12 months x 4 product lines contains so many possible data combinations that the virtual dataset becomes rather large. In this scenario, you should try to limit the amount of data or minimize the number of selectors and panels. By including prompts on some of the attributes (such as Year and Product Line), you can significantly reduce the amount of data retrieved by Intelligence Server and the number of combinations in the virtual dataset. Early in the design process, you should also identify which attributes on the document (particularly those which are candidates to become selectors) are likely to grow in terms of number of data elements. A document you design today that includes a Category attribute with just a few product categories might someday grow to contain hundreds or thousands of categories. If the virtual dataset becomes too large, you might consider removing some of the detailed-level data and using links on the document to let users navigate to these reports. Document preparation time is affected by the following: Number and size of the datasets Type of joins between the datasets Number and complexity of the grid/graphs on the document Number of selectors and their targets Number of grouping objects
Number of panels (including nested panels) Number of text boxes Number of thresholds
Document Structure Considerations

There are many things you can do to simplify a documents structure and, in turn, optimize its performance. Certain objects are more expensive in terms of execution time than others. In general, the growth of a document, with respect to its overall size and its execution time, depends on how much data is associated with each object on the document. The following table lists the types of objects that you might include in a document and how they impact a documents size and performance:
Document Objects and Their Impact on Document Performance
Object Grouping objects Selectors Document performance and size impacted by... Number of elements Elements with longer names are more expensive Number of selectors Type of selectors (element, metric, or panel) Number of panels Number of components on each panel and the data associated with these components Number of grid/graphs or widgets Number of attributes and metrics they contain Number of rows of data on each grid/graph
Panels
Grid/graphs Widgets
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Document Objects and Their Impact on Document Performance

Object Text boxes Document performance and size impacted by... Generally inexpensive Number of text boxes Type of text boxes (dynamic or static) Number of defined thresholds
Thresholds
Grouping Objects and Output Formats

Adding grouping objects to a document affects the documents performance differently, depending on the output format. The following illustration shows the impact of grouping on documents in several output formats:
Grouping Impact on Document Output Formats
In DHTML, documents might perform better with grouping objects because you can enable incremental fetch for specific grouping objects. Even though documents that display in DHTML require trips back and forth to the Web server to render additional selections from the group-by objects, incremental fetch can optimize this process by controlling the number of elements that are fetched at one time.
Selectors and Output Formats

Like grouping objects, selectors also impact document performance differently for each output format, as shown below:
Selector Impact on Document Output Formats
In Flash Mode, for each item you select in a selector that controls a grid/graph, the corresponding slice of data is prebuilt and stored in the Data file. Using multiple selectors increases the demand on Intelligence Server resources. However, for Flash Mode, using selectors that target only certain objects (such as grids) might be more efficient than using grouping, which requires more XML duplication for each grouping element. Furthermore, when including selectors in documents that display in Flash Mode, you might consider saving the document with specific elements selected for each selector. The next time a user runs the document, it should load faster because it renders a specific slice of data for each selector instead of all elements. As of version 9.0.1, you can use filtering selectors as a way to optimize the initial rendering of a dashboard. Filtering selectors initially retrieve only one slice of data, thereby significantly reducing the initial load time of a dashboard. Every time a user changes the selection in a filtering selector, MicroStrategy Web will fetch the new data slice from Intelligence Server.
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It is important to understand the tradeoffs presented by using Filtering Selectors vs. Standard Selectors, the table below illustrates such tradeoffs:
Selector Tradeoffs
Actions Initial Dashboard Execution Standard Selectors Slower All data slices must be processed and fetched upfront Faster All data is already on the client, no further trips to Intelligence Server are required Filtering Selectors Faster Only one slice of data must be processed and fetched Slower A round trip to Intelligence Server is required to bring the next slice of data to the client
Subsequent Dashboard Manipulations
Standard vs. Filtering Selectors
Layouts in Documents
When adding many layouts to a document, consider the impact on the documents response time and size. For documents that render in DHTML, one layout is retrieved at a time and XML is not generated for additional layouts until they are demanded by user (that is, until the user clicks to view another layout). Because less data loads on the client at first, there is a quicker response time to view that layout (as compared to running the same document in Flash Mode). However, when you click to view the next layout, you must wait for it to download to the client browser and to render. In Flash, panels and layouts are fully loaded to the client when the document is first loaded. However, the display of each layout and panel is rendered on the browser only on demand. When the user clicks on a different layout or panel, the new layout or panel gets rendered at that time (on demand).
Flash vs. DHTML for Multiple Layouts
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Panels and Incremental Fetch

In Flash Mode, documents retrieve all of the document data at initial execution time, even data for all layouts and all panels. Having more panels affects the execution time on the client browser, since all of the panels are immediately available in the document but the browser still has to render them. For documents that render in Flash Mode, consider reducing the number of panels and panel stacks to reduce the documents initial load time. The table below displays performance considerations for Flash dashboards, depending on the number of panels they contain:
Performance Depending on Panels
# of Panels <10 10 to 25 >25 Performance Level Optimum (Recommended) Acceptable Slow (Not Recommended)
In DHTML, you can enable the incremental fetch feature to control how panels render at run time. With incremental fetch enabled, users retrieve only the current panel when the dashboard executes in MicroStrategy Web, which contributes to better initial performance. Other panels are loaded only when the user requests them and are subsequently cached in the browser. If the user is unlikely to access all the panels in a panel stack, or if you want to optimize the initial load time of the document, you can specify that the panels load on demand. The document opens faster initially, although individual panels loaded on demand will take some time to load when the user selects them. After a panel is loaded, it remains cached on the client until the user closes the document.
Given its incremental nature, DHTML is the more appropriate option for documents that contain larger amounts of data, as illustrated below:
Flash vs. DHTML Panels
On demand panel loading occurs when the document is executed in MicroStrategy Web with DHTML enabled (in Interactive Mode or Editable Mode). On-demand panel loading does not occur in Flash Mode. You can define how panels are loaded at two levels: For all the panel stacks in the document (the document-level setting) For each panel stack
These options enable you to set different panel load settings for different panel stacks. For example, in a document with multiple panel stacks, you can define all panel stacks to pre-load all panels (at the document level). However, if there is one panel stack that contains many more panels than the other panel stacks, you can define that panel stack to pre-load only the current panel.
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To enable incremental fetch on panels:
1 Open a document in MicroStrategy Web. 2 In the Design mode, on the Tools menu, select Document Properties. 3 In the Document Properties window, under Document Properties, click Advanced. 4 Under Panel Stacks (DHTML Only), in the Pre-load drop-down list, select Current Panel Only of All Panel Stacks, as shown below:
all panels when the To pre-load MicroStrategy Web,document is executed in unless the panel load setting for a specific panel stack is defined differently, in the Pre-load drop-down list, select All panels of All Panel Stacks. 5 Click OK.
You can also enable incremental fetch for grids in documents.

To specify how to load panels for a specific panel stack:
1 Open a document in Design Mode. 2 In the Document Editor, right-click the panel stack to modify, and select Properties and Formatting. 3 In the Properties and Formatting window, in the General properties under the Panel Stack section, select one of the following Pre-load (DHTML only) settings, as shown below: To use the document-level setting, select Inherit from Document. To pre-load all panels when the document is executed in MicroStrategy Web, select All Panels. To load only the current panel when the document is executed in MicroStrategy Web, select Current Panel Only.
demand only Panels are loaded onwhen DHTML in enabled. For MicroStrategy Web is instructions on enabling DHTML, see the MicroStrategy Web Help. 4 Click OK.
2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Document Performance Optimizations
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Nested Panel Stacks

In general, nested panel stacks do not take much time and resources to render for documents displayed in DHTML or Flash. However, the more components their panels contain and the more data that is associated with each component, the longer it takes to render each nested panel stack. In the example shown below, the document contains four primary panels. Each panel contains a nested panel stack with two panelsone to display the graph view of the grid/graph and one to display the grid view:
Nested Panels Example
The document might run more efficiently if you use the Quick Switch feature to show the grid and graph view of a grid/graph, instead of using a nested panel stack with the Grid and Graph panels.
Grid/Graphs and Text Boxes

In general, grid/graphs take longer to execute than text boxes. Unless you need to show a lot of data, consider using dynamic text boxes in place of a grid.
In the following example, the original document contains multiple grids to show specific rows of information. When the document designer modifies the document to use dynamic text boxes instead, the document takes less time to run:
Grids Versus Text Boxes
However, you might have a document where you need to show many rows of data. In this case, you might improve a document's performance by using a single grid instead of many dynamic text boxes. When you compare the time it takes to render one grid versus hundreds of dynamic text boxes on the browser, it takes less time to render the single grid.
Reducing the number of Grids, Graphs and Visualizations

The number of elements (such as grids, graphs, and visualizations) in a dashboard has a direct impact on the processing time required by Intelligence Server to generate the necessary data structures to support it. In the case of a DHTML dashboard, the Web Server also utilizes CPU cycles to convert the XML data structures of each grid or graph into HTML and JavaScript to be rendered in the client. Furthermore, large dashboards with many objects require more network bandwidth to transfer data to the client.
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For performance optimization purposes, it is recommended that you restrict the number of elements (such as grids and graphs) in a dashboard. The table below displays sizing considerations for dashboards, depending on the number of grids, graphs, and visualizations they contain:
Performance Depending on Content
# of Panels <10 10 to 25 >25 Performance Level Optimum (Recommended) Acceptable Slow (Not Recommended)
Consolidating Grids and Graphs into a Single Advanced Visualization

In some cases, it might be possible to replace a set of grids, graphs, and selectors by consolidating them into a single, better-performing advanced visualization. The image below shows an example of this scenario:
Consolidating Grid/Graphs into a Microchart Widget
Use of Flash Widgets

You should be aware that the more widgets you include in a document, the more client browser memory the document will consume. Having too many widgets on a document can make other manipulations, such as changing panels, changing layouts, or making selections, extremely slow. The image below displays a list of the available widgets for MicroStrategy dashboard, sorted in ascending order by client memory usage:
Widgets by Memory Usage and Responsiveness
Reducing Grid Sizes

Displaying large grids in a dashboard impacts performance negatively at different levels of the architecture, especially during the client rendering stage both in Flash and DHTML modes. In Flash, large grids tend to use a significant amount of memory on the client, causing sluggishness in scrolling and other dashboard interactions.
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The table below displays sizing considerations for grid sizes:

Performance Depending on Grid Size
# of Cells <100 100 to 1000 >1000 Performance Level Optimum (Recommended) Acceptable Slow (Not Recommended)
Incremental Fetch on Grid/Graphs

Document designers can specify that only a set number of rows will initially be downloaded for each grid/graph in a document. This can greatly speed up the initial loading of the document in DHTML mode. The user can later fetch additional rows as needed.
This property applies only to the rows, not the columns, of the grid/graph.
You can define the incremental fetch options for grid/graphs in either MicroStrategy Web or in MicroStrategy Desktop, but incremental fetch is applied only when the document is executed in Editable Mode, Interactive Mode, or View Mode in MicroStrategy Web. MicroStrategy Desktop does not apply incremental fetch to grid/graphs.
The blocks of data are defined by the number of rows to return at a time. For example, a grid/graph on a document contains 32 rows. Incremental fetch is applied, with the number of rows per page set to 10. In MicroStrategy Web, only 10 rows are displayed on a single page of the grid/graph. Users can click the page numbers at the bottom of the screen to display more information. The document is shown below in Interactive Mode in MicroStrategy Web:
Document with Incremental Fetch on Grid Layer
apply to a document you There are rules thatfetch on grids/graphswhenwhen enable incremental and there are repeating document sections (like grouping sections and the Detail section). For more information, refer to the Report Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
To apply incremental fetch to a grid or graph in a document:
1 Open a document in Design Mode. 2 In the Document Editor, right-click the grid/graph, and select Properties and Formatting.
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3 In the Properties and Formatting window, on the left pane, under Properties, click Advanced. 4 Select the Enable incremental fetch in Grid check box. 5 Enter the Maximum number of rows per page. 6 Click OK.
Formatting Changes
Formatting changes, such as the modification of background or font colors, font size, font styles, graph styles, and thresholds, are relatively inexpensive but can eventually impact the size of a document. The following table lists the various objects and document sections to which you can apply custom formatting:
Formatting Changes
When you combine the objects listed above with custom formats and several selectors, the XML size of a document can increase quickly. For example, imagine a document where you have 5 selectors that target the entire contents of a panel stack (all panels with static labels, images, grid/graphs, and so on). If every selector contains 10 elements, Intelligence Server must generate duplicate views of the panels for every possible combination of elements across the selectors. Even static objects, such as labels and images, are duplicated on the panel view. If your images use long reference names in their image paths or URL links, Intelligence Server works even harder to generate the document. In this case, shortening the names of your image files can improve the documents performance. Also, targeting individual grid/graphs instead of entire panel stacks can prevent Intelligence Server from having to duplicate so many static objects (such as labels and images). With regard to thresholds, in particular, Intelligence Server performs extra processing steps to display them on documents. They require additional calculations, beyond metric calculations. Also, when they display external images (instead of just quick symbols or text), they require additional processing steps. While a small number of thresholds do not considerably impact performance, multiple thresholds in multiple views can compromise the performance of a dashboard. For performance optimization purposes, limit the number of thresholds used in a dashboard.
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Document Output Considerations

For DHTML and Flash, consider enabling browser caching in MicroStrategy Web, which caches files on the client browser after the first execution of a document. If you have the appropriate privileges and permissions, you enable browser caching in the MicroStrategy Web Administrator page, under Security, as shown below:
MicroStrategy Web Administrator Page Browser Caching Option
For DHTML, if a document contains large grid/graphs, you might improve the rendering time if you disable automatic sizing of the documents width in the Document Properties window. Setting the Document Width Mode to Fixed, as shown below, improves rendering time on the client browser:
Document Width Mode in Document Properties
The same concept applies to individual grid/graphs on the document. To improve performance, it is recommended that you disable the automatic resize option in MicroStrategy Web on these individual objects.
To disable automatic resize on a grid/graph:
1 Right-click the grid/graph object, and select Properties and Formatting. 2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, click Layout. 3 Under Size, for Width and Height, if Fit to Contents is selected, click Fixed at to disable it, and then type the size in inches, as shown below:
4 Click OK to save the properties. In general, objects with fixed sizes render more quickly on the browser than dynamically-sized objects. In Flash, for a document that contains many grids and graphs, you might improve the browser rendering time if you spread the grid/graphs across multiple panels in a panel stack as opposed to placing them all on one panel.
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Remember that panels are fully loaded on the client when the document is first loaded. However, the display of each panel is rendered only on demand (when the user switches to that particular panel). By placing grid/graphs on separate panels, you might improve the browser rendering time because each grid/graph is rendered only when the user views its respective panel in the panel stack. Also, since the panel is held in memory for subsequent viewing, when the user switches back to a previously viewed panel, it is available immediately.
Customer Case Studies

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Describe solutions to several document performance challenges.
Customer Case Study 1: Too Many Datasets and Grids

This example illustrates how limiting the number of datasets and the number of grids improves the documents execution time:
Customer Case Study 1
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The customer started out with over thirty datasets in the document. Many of these datasets were not being using at all in the document. Other datasets contained many of the same metrics, attributes, and filters. These datasets were good candidates for being combined together to reduce the overall number of datasets. The following actions reduced the XML size of the document and the time required to prepare all of the data: Removing unused datasets Combining existing datasets Removing unused metrics
Document Structure Optimizations

The document included 70 grids, 17 panels, 14 selectors, and hundreds of objects (text boxes, images, lines, and shapes). Both XML generation and client rendering time are directly correlated to the number of grids on a document. Removing some of the grids and replacing them with text boxes improved the documents execution time, as did removing some of the lines and shapes.
416 Customer Case Studies
Customer Case Study 2: Too Much Data

This example shows how using prompted datasets and simplifying the documents contents improve its overall execution time:
Customer Case Study 2
The customers document contained grids that held weekly data for about 50 metrics per SKU (stock keeping unit). By modifying some of the datasets to contain prompts, the customer was able to limit the amount of data a user could view in the document. Adding prompts is an easy way to control the size of the virtual dataset.
417
Document Structure Optimizations

The document contained several grids and graphs. Some of these objects were combinable into a single Microcharts widget. Other grids contained many metrics. By removing some of the metrics and including links to detailed reports with these metrics, the customer was able to minimize the size of the document and improve its execution time. The customer used grouping in the document to divide the data into manageable slices. Since the document displayed in Flash Mode, it was more efficient to use selectors that targeted specific objects (such as grid/graphs), instead of grouping objects that filtered data for the entire document.
418 Customer Case Studies
Troubleshooting Document Performance

After completing this topic, you will be able to: Understand a methodology for troubleshooting document performance issues and apply many optimization techniques to improve the performance of your documents.
Troubleshooting
Although detailed troubleshooting of document performance issues is beyond the scope of this course, you might want to consider using the following MicroStrategy tuning methodology to identify issues and resolve them:
MicroStrategy Performance Tuning Process
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MicroStrategy Performance Tuning Process

Step 1 Description Quantify performanceMeasure the documents execution time in the desired output format. Measure the individual dataset execution times. Identify problemsIdentify problem datasets or objects in the document that can be removed or modified. Find tuning candidatesIdentify specific datasets or document execution phases that can be tuned to perform better. Propose candidate solutionsFor problem datasets, consider optimizing the SQL through VLDB properties, indexing tables in the data warehouse, creating aggregate tables, modifying governing settings, modifying the caching strategy, and so forth. Test and refine solutionAfter making the proposed modifications, test the document and measure the improvement. Document and implement solutionDocument the solution for future reference.
2 3
The MicroStrategy Knowledge Base contains many technical notes that explain the document execution process in greater detail and cover troubleshooting techniques for each phase of the process.
Best Practices Summary

The following list summarizes best practices for improving document performance: Educate your users and set realistic performance goals Combine or remove datasets In datasets, remove unused metrics or unnecessary low-level attributes, because these objects increase the dataset size
420 Troubleshooting Document Performance
Remember some dataset objects (such as consolidations, custom groups, ranking filters, and so on) are more time-consuming for Intelligence Server to process than others With smaller amounts of data to show, use text boxes instead of grids Do not add unnecessary componentsIntelligence Server processes each grid/graph, widget, group-by, selector, panel, text box, line, image, shape, and link to construct the virtual dataset In Flash, to decrease the size of the Data file, limit the number of group-by objects, selectors, grids, and graphs in a document Decrease the number of grids and graphs by combining them into advanced visualizations or replacing them with dynamic text boxes where possible Add links to more detailed reports (instead of adding more panels or more layouts) Enable document caching, which helps the application scale better in terms of concurrent users by 30-50% on average In DHTML, if you have a large amount of data in a document, use layouts or links to minimize the amount of data sent in one request. In Flash, if you have a large amount of data in a document, minimize the selector slicing or use links to more detailed reports
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Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned: There are several factors that affect document performance, including the number and types of users, Intelligence Server and Web server hardware, network performance between the servers and client browsers, and the load mix. The document execution flow contains nine basic steps for executing documents DHTML, Flash, or PDF output formats. Documents that display in any of the DHTML modes produce an XML file that MicroStrategy Web converts into DHTML. Documents that display in Flash Mode produce a Data file (in binary format) and a Definition XML file. These types of documents also typically contain image files, widget files, and the DashboardViewer.swf file. The Data file for a document in Flash Mode contains the data necessary to render the document. Its size depends largely on how much data is associated with each document object. The Definition XML file contains the documents overall structure as well as the formatting and property definitions for each object on a document. There are several steps you can perform to optimize the datasets in your documents, including removing unused datasets or condensing like datasets, removing unused metrics, and enabling report caching. The virtual dataset is the combination of all matching and non-matching data elements between datasets in a document. You can control the way datasets are joined in a virtual dataset by specifying primary and secondary datasets.
422 Lesson Summary
In general, the growth of a document, with respect to its overall size and its execution time, depends on how much data is associated with each object on the document. Grouping objects, panels on panel stacks, grid/graphs, widgets, text boxes, and thresholds impact the size and performance of a document. Depending on the documents output format, grouping objects and selectors affect document performance and size in different ways. The more components that you include on the panels in a panel stack and the more data that is associated with each component, the longer it takes to render each panel. In general, grid/graphs take longer to execute than dynamic text boxes. If you have many grids that display only a single row of data (or very few rows of data), consider replacing these grids with dynamic text boxes instead. For documents that display in the DHMTL modes, one layout is retrieved at a time and XML is not generated for additional layouts until they are demanded by user. For documents that display in Flash Mode, panels and layouts are fully loaded to the client when the document is first loaded. However, the display of each layout and panel is rendered only on demand. There are many optimizations that you can perform at the dataset level and document structure level to improve the performance of your documents.
Lesson Summary
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424 Lesson Summary
A
WORKS CITED
425
Works Cited
Works Cited
The following books were referenced for creating this course and are recommended for further study: Few, Stephen. Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly Media, 2006. Eckerson, Wayne W. Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Zelazny, Gene. Say It With Charts: The Executives Guide to Visual Communication. 3rd ed. USA: McGraw-Hill, 1996
426 Works Cited
B
WHATS NEW IN MICROSTRATEGY 9.0.2 FOR DOCUMENT DEVELOPERS
Appendix Description
This appendix provides an overview of new features available for MicroStrategy document developers as of MicroStrategy 9.0.2. Because this release includes dozens of features and enhancements, only the most important, high-profile changes are highlighted in this appendix. The appendix assumes that you are already familiar with MicroStrategy Report Services functionality and related terminology. For more information on all of the features available with MicroStrategy 9.0.2, you can access the Whats New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 online course series at https://resource.microstrategy.com/education/
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Whats New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 for Document Developers
MicroStrategy Report Services
MicroStrategy Web
Understanding the New Express Mode
In MicroStrategy 9.0.2, Express Mode replaces View Mode for Report Services documents. In the previous version of MicroStrategy, you could only perform tasks such as saving, exporting, and printing in View Mode. In Express Mode, you can now interact with the document by performing the following manipulations: Sort and pivot objects on a Grid/Graph. Switch between displaying a Grid/Graph as a grid, graph, or grid and graph. Open links on a Grid/Graph. Interact with selectors. Access links on the document using the Link Editor.
The following image displays the sorting, pivoting, and links option when you right-click on the Subcategory Performance grid.
Enhancements in Express Mode
428 MicroStrategy Web
Internet Express View mode is supported on Microsofthigher). Explorer 7 (and higher) and Firefox 3.0 (and You can also choose to disable sorting and pivoting by clearing the checkbox Enable sorting and pivoting on grids in Express and Flash modes under Document Properties.
Exporting Flash Files as PDF or MHT

In addition to being able to run a Flash document inside a browser, you can also export them as a Flash file and save it on your computer for offline analysis. The Flash file is a fully interactive, stand-alone Flash dashboard that works similar to the Flash dashboard in Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. You can choose to export all the Flash files in a project in either MHT or PDF format. MHT file format can be opened in Internet Explorer or Firefox and PDF file format can be opened in Adobe Reader 9. Flash file preference is project level setting and can be changed in Project Configuration Editor. The following image displays the Export to Flash file format option.
Project ConfigurationExport Settings
In Flash export (stand alone document), drilling is not supported.

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Understanding the New Flash Grid Interactivity

In the previous version of MicroStrategy, you could only do sorting and pivoting in Flash Mode, which are Flash support features. You can now perform additional analysis using the enhanced MicroStrategy features such as: Linking to other documents or reports. Drilling to other objects contained within the Grid/Graph's dataset report. Sorting data in the Grid/Graph. Filtering, by selecting attribute elements or defining a condition on a metric using top, bottom, equals, less than, or greater than. Pivoting objects within the Grid/Graph, which includes changing the relative position of a row or a column, changing a row into a column, or changing a column into a row. Removing and adding objects to the Grid/Graph. Only objects in the Grid/Graph's dataset report can be added to the Grid/Graph.
The following image shows the enhanced interactive options available for a Grid/Graph in Flash View Mode:
Filtering on a Grid in Flash View Mode
The following image shows adding and removing objects from the grid/graph:
Adding and Removing Objects from the Grid/Graph
To view the additional interactive options, you need to select the Enable additional interactivity on grids in Flash Mode option under Document Properties.
Document Properties Window
MicroStrategy Web
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Understanding the New Features Added to Selectors

In MicroStrategy 9.0.2, the following new features were added to selectors in MicroStrategy Web: Ability to change the selection color for a standalone selector Ability to change the selection color for a grid-based selector Ability to change the default selection for a selector
Changing the Selection Color for a Stand-alone Selector

By default, the background for selected items is automatically chosen to provide contrast with the selector's background. In Flash Mode, you can specify the color for selected items for Drop-down, Listbox, and Link Bar selectors. In all other MicroStrategy Web DHTML modes, you can specify the selection color in Link Bar selector only. The following image shows a pink selection color instead of the default selection color.
Selection Color Change in Flash Mode
You can change the selection color for a selector in the Properties and Formatting window, under the Color and Lines format items.
Properties and Formatting Window
Changing the Selection Color for a Grid-Based Selector

By default, the background for items selected in the grid is automatically chosen to provide contrast with the grid background, but you can specify the color for the selected items. The color is displayed in Flash Mode and Express Mode in MicroStrategy Web. The image below shows the grid that is used as a selector to update another grid.
Grid as Selector
MicroStrategy Web
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The grid-based selectors can be set by setting a new property called Selection Color available on the Properties and Formatting window of the grid.
Properties and Formatting of a Grid
Changing the Default Selection for a Selector

In MicroStrategy 9.0.2, you have the ability to change the default selection for the following selectors: Slicing selector Filtering selector
Slicing Selector By default, when slicing selector is first displayed in MicroStrategy Web, the first item in the target is selected in the selector, and its target displays data for that item. If the user saves the document with his selections and re-executes the document, the selector and target are displayed according to those selections.
In MicroStrategy Web 9.0.2, you can set or unset the default selection for a selector control by modifying the Current State setting in the Properties and Formatting window.
Selector Properties in the Properties and Formatting Window
As seen in the previous image, you can change the Current State setting to define how a slicing selector and its target are first displayed. You can define the Current State to display all items in the target or only a specific number of items. For example, display the first three regions as the default selection for the selector. When a user saves the document after selecting items in the selector, the Current State setting is set to Set to specific elements. Use first or Use last Using thethe selector control from option actually unsets a specific selection.
MicroStrategy Web
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Filtering Selector By default, when a filtering selector is first displayed in MicroStrategy Web, none of the selector items are selected, so the selector's target displays all of the available items. It always display as unset (all items are displayed) until a user saves the document after selecting items. If the user saves the document with his selections and re-executes the document, the selector and target are displayed according to those selections. The Current State setting is then set to Set to Specific Elements. You can unset the current state by selecting the Unset (no filter) option.
Selector Properties in the Properties and Formatting Window
The Number of Elements property does not apply to filtering selectors

By default, the background for items selected in the grid is automatically chosen to provide contrast with the grid background, but you can specify the color for the selected items. The color is displayed in Flash Mode and Express Mode in MicroStrategy Web.
Linking from Widgets

Linking allows users to connect from a widget to another document or report. If a link is added to an attribute in the widget's grid, the target report or document is displayed in the tooltip associated with the attribute when the widget is displayed. For example, in the following widget, when the user hovers over the graph, the links are displayed.
Linking from the Microchart Widget
The links functionality is available on the following widgets: Data Cloud Heatmap Interactive Bubble Graph Microchart
Understanding Enhancements to the Microchart Widget

In MicroStrategy 9.0.2, the following changes were made to the Microchart Widget: Ability to link from the Microchart Widget Ability to use the Microchart Widget with MicroStrategy Mobile for iPad The new Tree Display Mode
to link For more information about the abilityWidgets.from the Microchart Widget, see Linking from
MicroStrategy Web
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to use For more information about the ability Mobilethe Microchart Widget with MicroStrategy for iPad, see Understanding Changes in MicroStrategy Mobile for iPad.
Tree Display Mode

The Microchart Widget has a new display modeTree Display. The Tree Display is useful when there are two to three attributes on the rows, in addition to the time series attribute. In the following image, the rows are grouped by the Support Region attribute. The Asia Pacific group is expanded to display the elements of the Call Center below with the rows Seoul, Singapore, and Sydney.
Tree Display Mode
Distribution Services
Sending Flash Documents
You can send or export a Flash document, as a Flash file and save it on your computer for offline analysis. The Flash file is a fully interactive, stand-alone Flash dashboard that works similar to the Flash dashboard in Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. In MicroStrategy 9.0.2 version, Distribution Services enables the delivery of Flash documents in MHT and PDF file formats. When creating an E-mail or File subscription, you can choose Flash as the delivery format of the content. Depending on your Export settings for Flash file format, the document is sent as a MHT file or a PDF file.
Subscribe to File Window
The MHT file format can be opened in Internet Explorer or Firefox, and the PDF file format can be opened in Adobe Reader 9. preference is project level setting Flash filein Project Configuration Editor. and can be changed
Distribution Services
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440 Distribution Services
Index
INDEX
Numerics
3-D effect 78, 244, 269
bullet microcharts 315
C
Change Selection on Mouse Over option 182 color in dashboards 42 current panel 68 curved lines 258 custom group 175 customer case studies for performance 415 cylinder 158
A
Adobe FlexBuilder 153 analytic panel layers 64, 123 analytic-based selector 118, 142 automatically apply selector changes option 103 automatically maintaining targets for selectors option 104
B
Bar microcharts 312 best practices for dashboard design 36 graphs 243 use of color 42 best practices for document performance 419 best uses for graph types 245 bevel effect 260 bubble chart 253 bubble grid widget 296
D
dashboard classifications according to MicroStrategy 24 dashboard definition 21 dashboard panel layers 66 dashboard templates 53 data cloud widget 300 Data file 390 data tooltips 260, 262 dataset performance optimizations 392
441
Index
date selection selector widget 351 defaults 96 design recommendations graphs 243 DHTML benefits 151 display modes Design 56 Editable 57 Flash 57, 58 Full Screen 59 Interactive 57, 58 View 57 document execution flow 385 document performance customer case studies 415 document preparation performance 393 document structure considerations 395 document template 54 document views in MicroStrategy Web 56 dot chart 253 drop shadow 78, 267 dynamic content dashboard 26 dynamic titles 385 dynamic visualization dashboard 28 interacting with 30
Flash document dynamic visualization dashboard 28 Flash files Data and Definition XML 389 Flash Mode export to MHT 156 graph types 155 rounded corners 179 transition animations 181 Flash mode 58 benefits 152 characteristics 154 selector-specific formatting 182 Flash player 154 formatting panel stack 76 formatting, document performance 410 Full Screen Mode 59 browser 61
G
gauge 158 gradients 78, 266 graph tooltips 260 graph labels 243 Graph Matrix widget characteristics 304 data requirements 298 Flash formatting properties 299, 302, 307 performing analysis 305 graph matrix widget 303 data requirements 306 graph title 254 graph types for Flash Mode 155 graphs 243 best uses for graph types 245 bevel effect 260
E
enable Flash mode option for MicroStrategy Web 153 execution flow 385 exercise 132, 271 exporting documents in Flash Mode 157
F
filtering vs. standard selectors 398 fish eye selector widget 345 formatting 349
442
Index
bubble chart 253 component comparisons 246 correlation comparisons 253 curved lines 258 frequency distribution comparisons 252 histogram 252 histograph 252 horizontal bar chart 248 item comparisons 248 line charts 250 pie charts 243, 246 scatter plot 253 surface area charts 252 time series comparisons 250 title 254 tooltips 262 transparency effect 256 vertical bar charts 246, 250 grid/graph as selector 118 grid/graphs, document performance 404 grouping 121 grouping and document performance 396
Interactive mode 58 interactive stacked graph 165 Interactive Stacked Graph widget Flash properties 294 graph 295 legend 292 interactive stacked graph widget 292
K
key performance indicator (KPI) 22, 401 KPI list mode microcharts widget 325
L
layering dashboards methods 64 layouts, document performance 399 line charts 250
M
media widget 329 specific attribute, document, dataset 335 metrics dashboard 25 MHT file 156 MHT format 157 Microcharts widget display types 310 performing analysis 311 ticker mode 322 vertical scroll mode 321 microcharts widget 309 data requirements 312 KPI list mode 325 operation modes 320 MicroStrategy Web
H
heat maps 167 histogram 252 histograph 252 horizontal bar chart 248
I
incremental fetch 400, 408 inserting panel stacks 70 interactive bubble graph 173 drilling custom group method 175 Interactive Mode widgets 354
443
Index
document views 56 multipanel dashboard 209
O
orientation for selectors 92
P
panel 63 characteristics 68 current panel 68 document performance for nested 404 Flash vs. DHTML 401 panel stack 63 characteristics 68 formatting 76 inserting 70 inserting more panels 75 locking 78 title bar 68, 71 toolbar 74 performance summary dashboard 24 pie charts 243, 246 portal window 265
Q
quick switch 264
R
rounded corners 179
S
scatter plot 253 scorecard 22 selector 68, 79, 96, 118, 132, 271 action type 93
analytic-based 118, 142 Automatically apply selector changes option 103 automatically maintaining targets option 104 controlling other selectors 96 date selection selector widget 351 document performance 397 fish eye selector widget 345 formatting 116 grouping 121 inserting 94 make all items the same width option 116 orientation 92 selecting attribute elements in a dynamic text field 90 selecting attribute elements in a grid/graph 84 selecting metrics 87 selectors as filters 112 source 93 standard vs. filtering 398 style 91 switching panels in a panel stack 80 target 93 target selection mode 120 totals 101 selectors as filters 112 selector-specific Flash formatting 182 single-value visualizations gauge, thermometer, and cylinder 158 Sparkline microcharts 312 standard vs. filtering selectors 398 surface area charts 252
T
target selection mode 120
444
Index
text boxes, document performance 404 thermometer 158, 243 ticker mode Microcharts widget 322 time series slider 163 time series slider widget 288 title bar 68, 71 height 73 tooltips 78, 244, 260, 262 transition animations 181 transparency effect 256
widgets as selectors 287
V
vertical bar chart 246, 250 vertical scroll mode Microcharts widget 321
W
widgets 152 bubble grid 296 data cloud 300 defined from grid/graphs 162 formatting 178 gauge, thermometer, cylinder 158 graph matrix 303 heat maps 167 in Interactive Mode 354 inserting 161 interactive bubble graph 173 interactive stacked graph 165, 292 list by memory usage and responsiveness 407 media 329 microcharts 309 microcharts, bullet 315 microcharts, operation modes 320 time series slider 163, 288
445
Index
446

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MICROSTRATEGY REPORT SERVICES: DYNAMIC DASHBOARDS

20002011 MicroStrategy, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

All Contents Copyright 2011 MicroStrategy Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Exercise Answers ........................................................................ 49

2. Creating Dynamic Dashboards

3. Flash Mode and Widgets

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

4. Designing Multipanel Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

7. Document Performance Considerations

Works Cited ............................................................................... 426

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Index ......................................................................................... 441

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Who Should Take this Course

12 Who Should Take this Course

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

About the Course Materials

14 About the Course Materials

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Opportunities for Practice

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About the Course Materials

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Notes and Warnings

A note icon indicates helpful information.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Precedes a Review section

Precedes a Case Study

Precedes a Business Scenario

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About the Course Materials

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

Other MicroStrategy Courses

18 Other MicroStrategy Courses

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2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards

MicroStrategys Dashboard Classifications

Performance Summary Dashboards

2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.