MicroStrategy ONE

Enabling hierarchical display of custom groups

Custom groups give a natural hierarchical structure to their elements. Each custom group element can be viewed as a set of smaller grouping elements, which can be repeatedly broken down until the actual items are reached. For example, in a Ranking custom group, the top-level element is Sales, which can be separated into the bands Top Cities, Average Cities, and Bottom Cities. Each band can be further divided into elements such as San Diego and Berlin. When a custom group is displayed as a hierarchy, each subsequently smaller group of elements is indented on a report.

By default, only the element names are displayed on the report. Enabling hierarchical display allows you to see this hierarchical structure, instead of a flat list. For an example, see the Custom Groups and Consolidations chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.

After you enable hierarchical display, you must display the hierarchical view in the report.

Prerequisites

This procedure assumes that you have created a custom group that contains a custom group element. For instructions, see Creating custom groups.

To enable hierarchical display for a custom group

  1. Open the custom group in the Custom Group Editor. (How?)

  2. Right-click the custom group element header in the Custom Group Definition pane, then select Show Display Options. The Choose a display option dialog box opens.

    You do not have to create an entire element before selecting its display options. You can set the display options as soon as the default custom group element name appears.

  3. Select one of the following:

    • For a banding qualification, select Show only the individual items within this element and also, expand these individual items if possible.

    • For other qualifications, select Show element names, individual items within this element and also, expand these individual items if possible.

      For examples of these options, see Specifying how custom group elements are displayed.

  4. Click OK.

  5. From the Custom Group menu, select Options. The Options dialog box opens.

  6. Select Enable Hierarchical Display.

  7. Click OK to return to the Custom Group Editor.

  8. Save the custom group. (How?)

When you use this custom group in a report, you must display the hierarchical view in the report before the custom group will display as a hierarchy.

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