Drill Map Association: Objects Containing the Drill Map

The drill map association defines which grid unit uses this drill map. In other words, drilling uses the object's associated drill map. An object can have an association both on the object level and on each template/report. If an association does not exist on the template/report level, then the association on the object level is used when a user drills at that object.

If an object is already associated with a drill map, that drill map is displayed in the Drill Map Editor. Otherwise, the default drill map is based on the system hierarchy. Once you begin to modify the default, it is no longer the system hierarchy—the name changes automatically, although you can edit this preset name. When you save your changes, a new drill map is created.

You can create and edit a drill map as a stand-alone object from the MicroStrategy Developer. You can associate multiple objects with the same drill map, using the Associate with button. The associated objects appear in the Origin list on the interface.

You can also access the Drill Map Editor from the following:

• Attribute Editor
• Consolidation Editor
• Report Editor
• Template Editor

When you edit a drill map from another editor, the drill map is associated with the object selected in the other editor. You cannot change the drill map association (the other objects that are associated with this drill map), but you can change which drill maps are associated with the selected object. For example, if you are editing the Store State attribute and you access the Drill Map Editor, only Store State is associated with the drill map you create.

If the original object is a template or report, the children objects are also available. For example, a sales report contains Store, Store State, Item, and the Revenue metric. You can create a drill map for each of the grid units except Revenue, because you cannot create drill maps for metrics.