MicroStrategy ONE

How to Answer a Prompt by Defining a Filter Based on an Attribute

Some prompted reports require you to define the report's filtering conditions based on an attribute.

These types of prompts include the following:

  • A prompt where you select a hierarchy from a drop-down, and then select an attribute to create a filter for the attribute. (This is a hierarchy prompt.)
  • A prompt where you create a filter based on an attribute. (This is an attribute prompt.)

If you attempt to run a report that contains a required prompt without answering the required prompt, the report will not run, and a message stating this requirement is displayed.

To Answer a Prompt by Defining a Filter Based on an Attribute

  1. Click the name of a prompted report or document to run it. The report or document presents a prompt question to be answered before the report data is displayed.
  2. If the prompt already has an answer (a filtering condition) in the Selected pane, you can do one of the following:

    • Change the existing filtering condition using the information in the next step.
    • Add additional conditions using the information in the next step.
    • Click Next and proceed to answer other prompts, or if this was the only prompt, you can run the report or document.
  3. If the prompt does not have an answer in the Selected pane, or you want to add to or change filtering conditions, create your filter by performing all of the following:

    1. In the Available pane, browse to and select the attribute or attribute element that you want to use to filter data. Click the Add icon Add icon to move it to the Selected pane. The new filtering condition is displayed as a series of drop-downs that define a filter condition that you can edit. If you select an attribute, a qualification condition is created (such as Month Qualify ID Equals Value). If you select an attribute element, an in-list filter condition is created (such as Month Select In List Jan 2010).

      How you select an attribute or attribute element depends on the type of prompt and the type of display, as described below:

      • If objects are not underlined, click an object to select it. (You may need to browse for the object that you want, by expanding levels.) Double-click the object to move it to the Selected pane.

        To select multiple objects, press and hold the SHIFT or CTRL key while clicking the objects. Click the Add icon Add icon to move the selected objects to the Selected pane.

      • If objects are underlined, clicking an object drills to the next level (such as Year down to Quarter). To select an object, hover over the object to highlight it, and then click in the highlighted area. Double-click in the highlighted area to add the object to the Selected pane.

        To select multiple objects, press and hold the SHIFT or CTRL key while hovering over an object, clicking in the highlighted area, and then repeating for the remaining objects. Click the Add icon Add icon to move the selected objects to the Selected pane.

    2. Click Qualify to display the first drop-down. Do one of the following:

      • To qualify on an attribute form, select Qualify from the drop-down.

        1. Click the next drop-down. A list of attribute form names for the current attribute is displayed:

          • ID: Each attribute element has a specific ID assigned to it. If you know the IDs that you want to filter data for, select ID.
          • DESC: Most attribute elements have a description provided for them. If you want to filter data based on descriptions, select DESC.
          • Other forms: There may be other forms from which to choose, depending on the attribute and on how your project was designed.
        2. From the operator drop-down, select the operator that will help you define your filter. For example, you might choose the Greater than operator to filter out data that is below a certain number. For more details on operators, see Joining filter qualifications with operators in the Basic Reporting Help
        3. Click Value. Define the values for which you want to filter data by doing one of the following:
          • Type the values for which you want to filter data. For example, if you are qualifying on ID, type the ID numbers to include in the filter.
          • Import values from a file, which allow you to filter the data using values specified in a saved file instead of typing them directly. For steps, see How to Import Prompt Values from a File.
      • To qualify on attribute elements selected from a list, click Select from the drop-down.

        1. Do one of the following:
          • To filter data on attribute elements in a specified list, select In List.
          • To filter data on attribute elements not included in a list, select Not in List.
        2. Click Empty to choose the list of attribute elements. The left pane contains individual elements of the selected attribute. For example, if the attribute is Year, the elements included in the left pane might include 2005, 2006, and so on.

        3. Click Add an Attribute Element icon to add an attribute element to the filter condition.
        4. Click OK.
  4. When you are finished defining your filter, if there is another prompt on the report or document, scroll down or click Next to answer the next prompt. Use the links below for steps to answer other types of prompts.
  5. When you are finished answering prompts, review the summary of your answers and click Run Report or Run Document.
  6. If you want to save and reuse your answers, see How to Save, Reuse, Rename, and Delete Personal Answers.
  7. If you want to see how your prompt answers were used to create the report's filter, from the File menu select Report Details or Document Details. Your prompt answers appear in the form of report filtering conditions. You can also see whether a cache was used to supply the results. If a cache was not used, the results were taken from the latest data in your data source. For steps to change which report details are displayed, see the Document Creation Help.

To see data filtered in a different way, click the Reprompt icon Reprompt icon on the toolbar that displays from the Home menu and answer the prompt again to create a different filter for the report results.

Renaming a Prompted Report

When you run a prompted report or document, you are presented with a prompt before you see any report results. At the bottom of the prompt selection page, you can rename the prompted report or document. This allows you to choose a meaningful name that makes it easier to later find the report or document in your History List or your My Reports folder.

For example, for a prompted sales report, if you answer a prompt question by specifying the month of October, you can rename the report "October Sales". Note that this name change is reflected only in your personal version of the report (in your History List or My Reports folder). It does not change the actual name of the report object in MicroStrategy.

Related Topics

How to Answer a Prompt by Selecting Answers from a List

How to Answer a Prompt by Typing a Specific Value

How to Answer a Prompt by Defining a Filter Based on a Metric Calculation