Formatting conditional values on a grid: Thresholds

Individual cell data can be automatically formatted differently than the data in the rest of the report. Data that is formatted differently calls attention to itself, and makes that data easier to locate for analysis.

In a simple example, for the report shown below, you want to highlight the subcategories for which the revenue is greater than $1,000,000.

You can achieve this by applying a threshold to the Revenue metric. The threshold is defined to automatically apply a gray background and bold font whenever values meet the threshold's condition. The resulting report is shown below. Notice that revenue greater than $1,000,000 is highlighted.

A threshold's condition can be as simple or as complex as you want.

Compare the example above to the example below. The image below shows the Tutorial report named Product Sales Results By Region. Thresholds are displayed for the % Change in Revenue metric, and for the Revenue metric.

When data is set up to automatically appear with special formatting depending on certain conditions, such as sales over $1 million or inventory below 50, this is called conditional formatting. It is special formatting that is applied to values when certain conditions are met. The data that meets the condition is considered to be data that has passed the threshold of the condition; once data passes the threshold, the formatting is applied. So thresholds are cells of data that are formatted differently from the rest of the data on a report; the formatting is applied dynamically, whenever the report is re-executed.

An administrator can create an alert-based subscription to ensure that end users are automatically notified by email when a metric on a report meets specific threshold conditions. This allows email recipients to be alerted to data that is likely to be important for making business decisions. An administrator can also have formatting applied to metric values in the report, to draw immediate attention to the data that meets the alert conditions. See the System Administration Help for details on alerts.

Thresholds highlight particular data in a report by displaying special cell formats, symbols, images, or replacement text. In the image above, the gray diamond-shaped symbol replaces (and represents) all values that represent a small increase in revenue from the previous year. "Small increase" is defined as revenue changes between 0 and 5 percent. The yellow diamond-shaped symbol represents a medium decrease in revenue from the previous year, with "medium decrease" defined as between -10 and 0. Values that show a medium decrease for the Revenue metric are displayed in red. Each of these thresholds makes analyzing large amounts of data easier because symbols are easy to locate, and different colors are quickly identified.

To see threshold images you have added to a report, view the report in MicroStrategy Web. Threshold images are also visible if the report is placed in a Report Services document in Developer or Web, or a dashboard in MicroStrategy Web.

You can use certain types of threshold formatting on a graph report. For details to apply a threshold to a graph, see Formatting conditional data on a graph: Thresholds.

Steps are below to create thresholds in MicroStrategy Web.

Prerequisites

• DHTML must be enabled. See the MicroStrategy Web Help for steps.

• Decide what condition the metric values must meet to have the threshold formatting applied. Common examples of a threshold's condition include sales that exceed a certain amount, revenue that falls below a certain percentage, or employee resource numbers that drop below a particular number.

  You can use attributes or other metrics on the report to define a threshold's condition. For example, in the following report, the Trend Lead Conversion column includes a green + (plus) or red - (minus) threshold to highlight when the month-to-month trend is positive or negative. The month-to-month trend is determined by comparing the first and second columns. This means the condition causing the threshold to appear in the last column is based on whatever values appear in the first and second columns, as shown below:

  

• Decide what you want to be displayed on your report when the condition is met. Common examples include displaying important numbers in red, or in white font with a red background, or displaying a red stop sign or a green traffic light in place of certain data.