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You can easily view and explore data by using analytic charts in a dashboard. Analytic charts enable you to drill down (or up) to see lower (or higher) levels of detail and to change the report to view data in another cube dimension. This is useful when you want to see more information than is displayed in the dashboard.

To drill down in a bar chart (to see more detail)

  • Click a bar in the chart. The chart will update with the next level of detail displayed. For example, if you are looking at a chart that displays the sales amounts for all geographies, clicking the Sales Amount bar causes the chart to update and display multiple bars that represent sales amounts in individual geographies.

    Notes:

    • If the chart does not automatically drill down when you click a bar, you are already at the lowest level of detail for that dimension. You can stay at this level of detail or decide to drill down in a different dimension.

    • The next level of detail displayed is specific to the chart value that was clicked. Clicking the bar moves the item to the background, where it serves as a kind of filter and then displays the next level of detail for that item.

    • If the chart takes too long to load, you may have initiated a long-running query that contains too much information for this kind of report view. You can click Stop to stop the query and restore the view to its prior state.

    • If the chart updates with too many bars (or pages), you have two options, depending on whether you are viewing the report in the dashboard or in a new browser window. Either you can open the Web Part menu and select Reset View (for a report viewed in the dashboard), or you can click the browser Back button (for a report opened in a new window).

To drill up to see a higher level of detail in a chart

  • Right-click the chart and select Drill Up. The chart automatically updates with the next higher level of detail displayed.

  • If the Drill Up option is not available, you are at the highest level of detail for the report. You can stay at this level or decide to drill down to a different dimension.

To drill down to a different dimension in a chart

  1. Right-click a value in the chart and select Drill Down To. This loads a list of available dimensions you can explore. (It may take a moment for the list to load, depending on the cube size and number of available dimensions.)

  2. Click the dimension you want to view. The chart updates to show data for the selected dimension.

    Notes:

    • If the chart takes too long to load, you may have initiated a long-running query that contains too much information for this kind of report view. Click Stop to stop the query and restore the view to its prior state.

    • If the chart updates with too many bars (or pages), making the report difficult to understand, you can reset the view or undo the query. If you are viewing the report in the dashboard, open the Web Part menu and then select Reset View. If the report has been opened in a new browser window, click the Back button in the browser window.

To navigate on an item not visible in a bar chart

  1. Right-click a bar in the chart to open the shortcut menu. The dimension or measure name that appears at the top of the list on the shortcut menu is the item currently associated with the bottom axis in the chart.

  2. Click the Switch To item you want on the shortcut menu. This automatically puts that item in the bottom axis section (its name now appears at the top of the shortcut menu list). The shortcut menu remains open. (The chart will not update until you complete the next step.)

  3. Select an available option (such as Drill Down, Drill Down To, or Show Details) from the shortcut menu to apply your changes to the chart. The chart will update to display the results. Shortcut menu options that appear dimmed are not available for the dimension or member that appears at the top of the list. You can apply any one of the other available options on the shortcut menu.

To show details for a chart value (to see the next level of detail in a line or bar chart)

  • Right-click a chart value and select Show Details. This causes the chart to update to display the next level of detail for the selected value.

    Notes:

    • Depending on the level of data displayed in the chart, clicking Show Details may open a new browser window that displays transaction-level details for the selected value in a table. You can view these details in the browser window or export this information to Microsoft Office Excel by clicking Export to Excel. (You must have Office Excel 2007 or the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats installed on your computer.)

    • The next level of detail displayed is specific to the chart value that was right-clicked. To see transaction-level details for more than that one value, you can first drill up in the chart to view a higher level of data, and then drill to detail.

To change to a different dimension in a bar chart and drill down, across, or up

  1. Right-click a bar in the chart to open the shortcut menu. The dimension or measure name that appears at the top of the list is the context for the current view.

  2. Click a Switch To item to select it. This automatically moves the item that was the context to the background (which now acts as a kind of hidden filter) and brings the selected item in the context (evidenced by its name now appearing at the top of the shortcut menu list). The shortcut menu remains open, and the chart is not updated until you complete the next step.

  3. Click an available option (such as Drill Down, Drill Down To, or Show Details) on the shortcut menu to apply your changes to the chart. The chart is updated to display the results.

    Notes:

    • Remember that switching to a different item moves the item formerly in context to the background where it now serves as a hidden filter. For example, if the bar chart initially displayed sales for all products in a given region and you switched the view from the region to product categories, the displayed values for the product categories are specific to the one region.

    • Menu options that appear dimmed on the shortcut menu are unavailable for the item currently in context.

    • If the chart takes too long to load, you may have initiated a long-running query that contains too much information for this kind of report view. Click Stop to stop the query and restore the view to its prior state.

    • If the chart updates with too many bars (or pages), making the report difficult to understand, you must reset the view or undo the query. If you are viewing the report in the dashboard, open the Web Part menu and then select Reset View. If the report has been opened in a new browser window, click the Back button in the browser window.

To undo changes (one at a time) for a chart opened in a new browser window

  • Click the Back button in your browser window. This undoes the last change you made to the view. This is useful if you made several changes to the report and do not necessarily want to reset the chart to the default view.

    Note:
    If the Back button is not active, the report is displayed in the default report view.

To reset the report view

  • Reset the report view by using one of the following methods:

    • If the chart has been opened in a new browser window, click the Refresh button in the new browser window. This not only resets the analytic chart to the default view shown in the dashboard but also resizes the chart to fit inside the new browser window.

    • If the chart is being viewed in its original location in the dashboard, open the Web Part menu, and then select Reset View.