Enabling drilling on Grid/Graphs

Steps to enable drilling

Before you begin

This topic assumes that you are familiar with drilling in reports, including drill maps, drill paths, and the associated terminology.

Before you can drill on a Grid/Graph in a document, you must enable drilling for that Grid/Graph. While you can drill on a Grid/Graph only in Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, and Express Mode in MicroStrategy Web, you can enable drilling using either MicroStrategy Developer or MicroStrategy Web.

When you enable drilling, you can specify several drilling options. These options are briefly described in the following sections:

• Drilling within a dataset vs. drilling anywhere

• Keeping the parent attribute while drilling

• Keeping thresholds while drilling

• Inheriting the subtotal from the parent

• Defining the drill attributes join type

When you enable drilling using the MicroStrategy Web interface, you cannot define the drill attributes join type or specify whether the subtotal is inherited.

For an expanded discussion of these options, see Drill maps and associations and the Drill Maps chapter of the Advanced Reporting Help. For instructions to enable drilling in Grid/Graphs in a document, see Enabling drilling on Grid/Graphs (for MicroStrategy Developer) or the MicroStrategy Web Help.

You can also create and edit the drill maps for the Grid/Graph. Drill maps determine what happens when you drill on an object. To work with drill maps, you must edit the Grid/Graph. For instructions on editing the Grid/Graph, see Editing Grid/Graphs in Grid view. For more information on drill maps in general, see Drill maps and associations and the Drill Maps chapter of the Advanced Reporting Help.

Keeping the parent attribute while drilling

The Keep parent while drilling option determines whether the original object (the object that the user drills on) appears in the destination report. For example, if a user drills from State to City when Keep parent is selected, State remains on the destination report. If the Keep parent attribute option is not selected, the parent attribute is removed. The same drill would result in a destination report with City but not State.

When drilling is enabled for a Grid/Graph, whether the parent attribute is kept is determined by the drill path. (The Keep parent option is set to Default.) You can change it to keep or remove the parent.

Keeping thresholds while drilling

The Keep thresholds while drilling option determines whether a threshold set in the original report is still displayed in the destination report (after the drill). For example, a threshold is defined to bold revenue values greater than $1 million. If a user drills from Store to Employee when the Keep thresholds option is selected, any revenue value over $1 million is shown in bold font. If the option is not selected, none of the revenue values are bolded.

When drilling is enabled for a Grid/Graph, whether the thresholds are kept is determined by the drill path. (The Keep thresholds option is set to Default.) You can change it to keep or remove thresholds.

Inheriting the subtotal from the parent

The Inherit subtotals from parent option determines whether a subtotal set in the original report is still displayed in the destination report (after the drill).

When drilling is enabled for a Grid/Graph, whether the subtotal is kept is determined by the drill path. (The Inherit subtotals from parent option is set to Default.) You can change it to keep or remove subtotals. If you select Yes, subtotals are displayed on the drilled-to report, unless all of the following are true:

• The subtotals are calculated by group.

• The object being drilled from is the same as the group being subtotaled.

• The Keep parent while drilling option is not selected.

Defining the drill attributes join type

You can select the attributes that appear in the destination reports while drilling, as well as specify the join types for these attributes. The join type defines how the attributes in the destination reports are joined; it affects how data is calculated on the drilled-to report.

Setting the join type allows you to place conditions on the data selected for display in the report. An inner join includes only the data common to all the elements in the join, whether that data is tables or metrics. An outer join includes all of the data in all of the elements. For details and examples showing how attribute joins affect report results, see the Advanced Reporting Help.

To enable drilling in a Grid/Graph

You can drill on a Grid/Graph only in Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, and Express Mode in MicroStrategy Web.

1. Open a document in the Document Editor. (How?)

2. Double-click the Grid/Graph to enter edit mode. A red hashed border displays around the Grid/Graph, indicating that it is in edit mode.

3. From the Data menu, select Grid Data Options. The Report Data Options dialog box opens.

4. In the Categories list, expand General, and then select Drilling.

5. Select the Enable report drilling check box.

6. Select one of the following:

   • Drill anywhere: (the default) All drill paths in the drill map for the dataset report are shown. If the dataset does not have a custom drill map, the drill paths in the project drill map are used.

   • Drill within: Users can drill only to objects that are in the dataset report.

7. The Keep parent while drilling option determines whether the original object (the object that the user drills on) appears in the destination report. Select one of the following:

   • Default: Whether the parent attribute is kept is determined by the drill path.

   • Yes: Keeps the parent attribute while drilling.

   • No: Removes the parent attribute while drilling.

8. The Keep thresholds while drilling option determines whether thresholds set in the original report are displayed in the destination report (after the drill). Select one of the following:

   • Default: Whether the thresholds are displayed is determined by the drill path.

   • Yes: Keeps the thresholds while drilling.

   • No: Prevents thresholds from displaying while drilling.

9. The Inherit subtotals from parent option determines whether a subtotal set in the original report is still displayed in the destination report (after the drill). Select one of the following:

   • Default: Whether the subtotals are displayed is determined by the drill path.

   • Yes: Keeps the subtotals while drilling, unless all of the following are true:

   • The subtotals are calculated by group.

   • The object being drilled from is the same as the group being subtotaled.

   • The Keep parent while drilling option is not selected.

   • No: Prevents subtotals from displaying while drilling.

10. To select the attributes that appear in the destination reports while drilling, and to specify the join types for these attributes, click Drill Attributes Join Type. For more detailed instructions, see Report Data Options dialog box: Drilling: Drill Attributes Join Type dialog box.

11. Click OK to return to the document. You can now drill on the selected Grid/Graph in Interactive Mode and Editable Mode.

12. To allow drilling in Express Mode, you must enable interactive Grid/Graphs for MicroStrategy Web, as described below.

    1. From the Format menu, select Document Properties. The Document Properties dialog box opens.

    2. Select the Document category on the left.

    3. Select the Enable sorting and pivoting on grids in Express and Flash Modes check box.

    4. Click OK to return to the document.

Related Topics

• Drilling in Grid/Graphs

• Displaying reports in documents: Grid/Graphs

• Enabling interactive Grid/Graphs for MicroStrategy Web