The Portal Toolbar

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The toolbar contains all the functionalities the user may use in his analysis. In the following sections the use of each of them is detailed.

It lets you undo or redo the last performed action(s). In this way the user can easily move to the previous query, just by undoing the last change.

Bear in mind that it is not the same to use this "Undo" option in the O3Portal toolbar as the "Undo" option in the navigation toolbar of the web browser itself.

Save View

It allows users to save the current view. This option opens the "Save View" dialog box, which enables you to save the query being analyzed at the time. The name you wish to save the view by must be indicated and whether the view is shared with other users or not. That is, if other users are allowed to access the created view.

The options in the "Share with" field are:

"Don't Share": if you do not wish to share the view with other users.
"All": If you wish to share the view with all the users with access to the datamart
"Role Name": If you only wish to share the view with those users that share the same role with the person saving the view.

Print

It lets you print the current view.

This option opens a new window displaying a print preview of the view.

This print preview allows you to configure print details through the "Options" menu, such as if you wish to report on dimensions and filters involved in the view, or if you wish to place that information at the top or bottom of the page.

Export

It lets you export the information in the current view.

This option opens a dialog box displaying the following settings:

Format: PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV.
Papar Size : Letter, Legal.
Orientation : Landscape, Vertical.
Export Type: O3 Table, Elegant.

Export Spreadsheet

It lets you export the information in the current view to a spreadsheet in xls format.

Once this option has been selected, a "File Download" window pops up from which the view can be saved as a spreadsheet, or opened directly as such.

Show / Hide Pages Area

It allows you to enable the Paging facility or "3rd analysis axis" for queries. When the paging is enabled, a sector with the reading "Drop dimensions here to define new pages", appears in the lower part of the analysis pane.

Dimensions you wish information in the analysis pane to be paged by must be dragged here.

You may drag as many dimensions as there are available and you may change hierarchies within each dimension by means of the arrows next to them.

If those arrows are disabled, it means that there are no other options for the parameters indicated in the previous dimensions.

Initial View

It takes you to the query of the initial view, performed at the time of selecting the datamart or view.

Top Query

It takes you to the Top Query, that is, settling in the top level of each of the dimensions participating in the current query. For instance, if the current query shows information on sales in a given month, when you go to the top query you will see the sales of all years reported in the datamart.

Rank

It lets you rank the analyzed elements and define ranking type queries. This option opens a dialog box that lets you configure the order in which the elements of a dimension will be shown.

The dimension to be ranked must be indicated, then either ascending or descending ranking criterion, and if you wish to sort by label, totals, or according to a given element.

It is also possible to show only one subset of the ranked elements, using different criteria to determine such set, for instance: show the elements whose values reach a given percentage of the total, or those which add up to a certain value.

In the same way this dialog box lets you configure the ranking of a query, it also eliminates existing rankings with the "Remove Ranking" button, in the bottom left hand corner.

Hide / Show

It lets you hide elements of the analyzed view, which are not relevant at the time, though still part of the result of the performed query.

This option opens a dialog window to indicate which elements you wish to hide in each dimension.

This hiding action works even in dimensions which are not part of the view in the analysis pane, which must be taken into consideration as you run the risk of unawarely viewing information with hidden elements which are not being included in the current analysis.

In the same way they are hidden, the same dialog box lets you show the different elements again.

Swap Axes

It lets you swap axes. The query remains the same, what changes is the location of axes in relation to one another.

Each time this button is activated the way in which information is displayed is toggled, columns become rows and vice versa. (that is, the X and Y axes are swapped)

Edit Calculations

It lets you edit calculations performed by the user and add them to the analysis as new calculated rows or columns, which is done through the dialog box "Edit Calculations".

When adding a calculated expression, its future location must be defined, whether it will be added to the query as a global row or column or if it will be added for any given dimension in particular.

You may use predefined calculation expressions or define totally new and arbitrary expressions depending on the user's needs. The predefined functions are: sum, average, maximum, minimum, count.

To define a new expression, you must complete the dialog "New Function" dialog box, which opens when pressing the "New" button. This dialog window lets you define the name and logic of the new expression, besides defining configuration details. At the end of the line where the expression is to be entered, there is a button with three dots (...), which when activated opens the "Expressions Editor" dialog, where the new expression must be typed by easily invoking existing functions.

Not predefined expressions created in this way will be available for use in the "Shared" and "Private" folders, according to the indications of the user creating them.

In the picture on the right, the creation of a calculated column with the predefined Sum expression is shown.

By right-clicking on the calculated column or row header you may edit the expression to modify it eliminate the added column or row.

Spreadsheet

It lets you swap to the grid viewing option (only enabled when in graph mode)

Show Chart

It lets you swap to the graph viewing option.

You should click on the little arrow to the right of the icon to select what type of graph you wish to use.

Options are as follows:

3D Grouped Bars.
3D Stacking Bars.
3D Monoseries Bar
3D Pie
Bars
Pyramid
Tape
Grouped Bars
Stacked Bars.
Monoseries Bars
Pie
Plot
Scatter Plot
Monoseries Plot
Area
Stacking Area
Plot Dispersion XY
Line Dispersion XY
Monoseries Line Dispersion XY
Bubble XY
Bubble
Radar Plot
Radar Area

Rotate Chart

This button is enabled when in the graphic mode and its effect is to rotate the graph view.

It is not an axes swap but a visual rotation of the graph. (i.e. if you could see vertical bars, now you will see horizontal ones).

Show / Hide Guidelines

This button is enabled in graph mode and when pressed it shows the guidelines between values in the graph.

Show / Hide Values

This button is enabled in graph mode and when pressed it shows the values in each sector.

Show / Hide Zeros

It lets you show rows and columns with zeros.

Depending on the analyzed measures, it is likely that for different combinations of elements of the different dimensions, all values in a row or column are zero.

In such a situation, the default behavior is hiding the rows and columns that display only zeros in the Analysis Pane. This behavior can be modified selecting the option "Show Zeros"

Show / Hide NaN

It lets you show rows and columns that contain indefinite values (NaN) (Not A Number).

Just like in the case above, rows and columns formed only by indefinite values are automatically hidden.

This behavior can be modified selecting the option "Show NaNs"

Chart Options

They let you adjust the graph options by modifying the value corresponding to the axis as well as the value scale used.

This option opens a dialog box where you can configure the scale for the values axis, its maximum and minimum values, and the interval scale for all graphs.

The default behavior is placing zero in the intersection of the Y axis and the X axis. If we are viewing the information in a plot graph and values are too high, the lines will be plotted in a band that is too far from the axis. It may also occur that there is little difference between the values of the different elements.

The user may change this behavior by indicating which is the minimum value they wish to view on the axis and how they want to represent the value scale.

Options

The "Options" menu contains a set of actions the user may need at a given point in the analysis. They are actions that are not frequently used, that is why they are not displayed one by one in the toolbar, but grouped within this access. When clicking on the arrow by the "Options" label a sub-menu including the following possibilities opens:

Show percentages in the columns.
Show percentages in the rows.
Show the long labels instead of the short ones for the elements in each dimension.
Change the password of the user currently logged in.
Enable the automatic refresh. It is used only when the refresh rate of the datamart is of a few minutes. In this case it may happen that during the user's session the datamart is updated.
This option makes the displayed information be reloaded even if the the user does not make any new query. The default refresh rate is 8 seconds, but this time is adjustable.
Show Status Bar
Switch to Paged Mode (see Description of Paged Mode)
In the Paged Mode, change page size
Expand rows
Show Headers
Force NaNs to Zero
Activate Automatic Rankings
Show Linear Regression
Display Correlation
Show Row of Totals
Show Column of Totals

Plug-ins

It lets you access the Plug-ins associated to the cube being analyzed. Plug-ins refer to applications that are launched from the datamart, maintaining an interaction with the analyzed information.

O3, in particular through the O3 Query component, lets you associate each datamart to a set of queries that access data which are not included in the multidimensional model.

In the example, the "Sales Details" query is shown, through which information not in the datamart, such as the invoice number, can be accessed. In this way, by simply associating the query to the datamart you get instant access to the invoice number of any operation viewed in the analysis pane.

To enable the Plug-in, when you click on the arrow next to "Plug-ins" a list with the associated plug-ins is displayed. (in this case, the only available plug-in is Sales Details)

A tab is added where the information associated to "Sales Details" is displayed, lying next to the original "Wines" tab, where the datamart is being navigated. You can go from one tab to another by just clicking on their names.

An important characteristic is that as you navigate in the analysis pane, the information shown by the associated query is redirected, always displaying information relative to the elements being shown in the analysis pane.

For more details on how to use the O3Query component, refer to the O3Browser end user manuals and O3Studio developer ones.

Rules

This set of 3 icons lets you establish Business Rules. They are situations that must be met or exceptions that must be detected on the analyzed data.

It may happen that in different areas you find the need to define controls that let you forecast situations that unduly detected can be hard to revert.

The most usual examples are:

Expenses vs. Budget
Sales in a Sales Plan
Credits due

Systematic controls, with different degrees of detail can be defined on the information, the user being able to associate different colors for their representation, and also to generate events as warnings, and actions such as the notification via email, reporting the values of the indicators generating the non-compliance.

The definition of Business Rules associated to a given cube consist on determining which are the situations you wish to control, defining an adequate view together with the conditions that will be evaluated each time their check-up is performed, and the actions you wish to carry out.

To define business rules:

Select the "New Rule" button
Enter a name and description for the new rule and click on "Next"
Select the elements for which you wish to control the conditions the rule defines.
Click on "Capture View" and then on "Next".
Indicate the conditions for the rule to work and finally the actions that will be carried out if the rule is not complied with.
More than one condition can be established for each Rule.
Likewise, you may establish more than one action to perform if the rule is not complied with.
Finally, click on "Apply" and then on "Save" to go back to the analysis pane.

Paged Mode

The Paged Mode is one of the 3 available modes to perform queries and navigate from O3Portal. The other two modes are the Graphic Mode and the Query Mode through grids or tables.

The Paged Mode is one particular case of the Spreadsheet Mode, for it presents information in a tabular way. It differs in the way of getting the result: the paged mode retrieves a limited amount of information on each page being queried, whereas in the Spreadsheet mode, all the query is processed and retrieved to the analysis pane as result.

The Paged Mode lets you navigate through large amounts of information, allowing for an excellent response time even when the volume of information resulting from the query is in the range of tens or hundreds of thousand records, as the user can begin analysis of the information without having to wait for all the query to be solved.

Due to the fact that the paged mode offer results on demand, that is new pages of information are presented only when the user requests a new data set, some restrictions as to the type of expressions that can be used in report mode apply.

This affects the expressions added by the user as well as the definition of business rules.

You may configure the amount of data displayed in each query, selecting among 100, 250, of 500 rows at a time. In order to do so, we have to go to Options->Page Size and we indicate the desired amount.

To consult a new data set, you must click on the "next" or "previous" icons in the top right, thus advancing to the next data page or going back to the previous one.