MicroStrategy ONE

Shortcut-to-a-Report Qualification

The results of an existing report can be used as a filter for another report. You can use the first report itself as a filter inside a new report. This type of filter is called a shortcut-to-a-report qualification.

For example, you have a Basic Revenue report. Without a filter, this report shows all revenue for all regions and all products you carry. Next, you use your Revenue By Brand report as a filter within the Basic Revenue report. With its new filter, the Basic Revenue report now displays the revenue generated only for those brands specified in the results of the Revenue By Brand report. For a more detailed explanation of this example, see the Building Query Objects and Queries, for Designers chapter of the Basic Reporting Help.

You can also use a report as a filter and then add additional qualifications to expand the overall filter definition. For example, you can take the result set of one report showing all customers in the Southwest region, place that result set as a filter into a new report, and add a new filter qualification for active customers in the current year. The new report displays all currently active customers in the Southwest region.

This approach shows you the value of creating some basic, relatively simple reports in your project. Then you can make use of these basic reports within shortcut-to-a-report filters to make the filter creation process quicker.

To be used as a shortcut-to-a-report qualification, a report cannot contain any of the following objects or be of any of the following report types:

  • Consolidations
  • Custom groups
  • Data mart reports
  • MDX cube reports: Reports that draw their data from an MDX cube source such as SAP Business Intelligence Warehouse (SAP-BI), Microsoft Analysis Services (MSAS), or Hyperion Essbase (Essbase)

For steps to create a stand-alone filter, see To use a report as a filter.

Shortcut-to-a-report qualifications and OLAP Services

If you use MicroStrategy OLAP Services, be aware that a report's view definition does not affect how the report is used in a shortcut-to-a-report qualification. A report's data definition is the query that is sent to your database to retrieve information for the report, whereas the report's view definition determines how much of the retrieved information is displayed in the report. When you use a report as a filter, the report's entire data definition is considered; any view definitions do not influence the filter conditions. For information on MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see the In-memory Analytics Help.

Allowing User Input Into the Filter: Prompted Shortcut-to-a-Report Qualification

You can allow a user to modify a filter, by including a prompt in the filter definition. You can use an existing prompt or create an prompt embedded in the filter. A prompt in a shortcut-to-a-report qualification allows a user to select from a list of reports.

Steps to use an existing prompt or create an embedded prompt are included in To use a report as a filter below.

To use a report as a filter in a shortcut-to-a-report qualification

  1. Click Create on any page, and select New Filter.
  2. Do one of the following:

    1. To select a report, in the pane on the left, navigate to the report to use as a filter. Right-click the report and select Add to Filter.

      If DHTML is disabled, select the report and click Add > to add the report to the Filter panel.

    2. To use an existing Object prompt of reports, in the pane on the left, navigate to the prompt to use as a filter. Right-click the prompt and select Add to Filter.

      If DHTML is disabled, select the prompt and click Add > to add the prompt to the Filter panel.

    3. To create a prompt that allows the user to select the report, in the pane on the left, perform the following steps:
      1. Navigate to the report to use as the default prompt answer.
      2. Right-click the report and select Add Prompt to Filter. A prompt is created that lists all the project's reports when the report is run, with the selected report as the default answer.
      3. To modify the prompt, click List of Reports. The Prompt page opens. You can add reports; change the prompt's title, description, and display style; restrict the number of prompt answers; and determine whether prompt answers can be saved and reused. For steps, see How to Create an Object Prompt.
  3. From the toolbar, select the Save icon Save icon.
  4. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Type a Name and Description for the filter, and click OK.

The filter that you created can now be added to a report. For steps, see Adding a stand-alone filter to a report.