Thresholds dialog box

Thresholds allow you to alert report analysts to data that is likely to be important for making business decisions. Certain data cells on your report could assume special significance (such as Sales > 1000, or Date of Sale prior to December 1, 2027). Thresholds allow you to draw immediate attention to such data based on the result of expression evaluations. For more background information on thresholds, see Applying thresholds.

The Thresholds dialog box allows you to add a new threshold or delete an existing one, define the qualification, format the definition, and allow users to show/hide all thresholds.

Thresholds dialog box layout

The Thresholds dialog box has:

• A toolbar across the top of the dialog box. Use this toolbar to select the metric to apply thresholds to, and then to add, delete, and reorder thresholds for the selected metric. For descriptions of all the toolbar icons, see The toolbar below.

• A list of the thresholds, if any, defined for the metric selected in the toolbar. If a threshold has not been defined for the selected metric, the message "There are no items to show in this view" is displayed.
  

Each threshold displays:

• The name of the threshold.

• A check box that indicates whether the threshold is enabled (that is, displayed) or disabled (that is, hidden).

• The qualifications (field, operator, and value) that determine whether the threshold is applied. (Examples of qualifications are "Region In list {Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast}" and "Profit Greater than 10000".)

• The formatting applied when the qualifications are met.

For more detailed descriptions of this area, see Threshold list below.

The Allow user to display and hide thresholds check box at the bottom of the dialog box. This check box determines whether users can switch thresholds on and off. If the check box is cleared, Show/Hide Thresholds option is not displayed in the Data menu and F12 does not work. In MicroStrategy Web, the Thresholds icon on the toolbar, which allows users to show or hide thresholds, is disabled.

The toolbar

The toolbar contains:

• A list, at the far left, of all the metrics in the report. Select the metric to work with. Any thresholds defined for the metric are listed below the toolbar.

• Add a new threshold . Click to add a new threshold to the selected metric. The new threshold, titled "New Threshold", is added to the list below the toolbar. You can also add one of the following predefined thresholds from the drop-down list (click the arrow next to the Add a new threshold icon to access the list):

• Highest Value: Adds a new threshold with the qualification predefined as "Rank of selected metric Top 1". Change the value (from 1).

• Lowest Value: Adds a new threshold with the qualification predefined as "Rank of selected metric Bottom 1". Change the value (from 1).

• Highest Percent Value: Adds a new threshold with the qualification predefined as "Percentage of selected metric Top 1". You can then change the value (from 1).

• Lowest Percent Value: Adds a new threshold with the qualification predefined as "Percentage of selected metric Bottom 1". You can then change the value (from 1).

• Copy copies the selected threshold (the qualifications and the format).

• Paste adds the copied threshold to the bottom of the list of thresholds. You can then rename it and edit it to suit your needs.

• Delete deletes the selected threshold.

• Delete Alldeletes all the thresholds for the selected metric.

• Move up and Move down allow you to re-order the thresholds.

• Add a new qualification adds another qualification to the selected threshold.

• Remove all the conditions removes all qualifications in the selected threshold.

• Edit the threshold formatting allows you to change the formatting that is applied when the qualifications are met. The Format Cells dialog box opens.

• Enable threshold on Graph applies the background formatting to the graph if the threshold condition is satisfied. This icon is available only when you have formatted the background, by setting the Background style to an option other than Default. For a list of which graph types support thresholds and information about how thresholds are displayed in graph reports, including examples, see Applying thresholds to a graph report.

Select one of the following to determine how the threshold is applied:

• Apply the threshold on metric values only to apply the selected threshold to metric values but not subtotal values. (Default)

• Apply the threshold on subtotal values only to apply the selected threshold to subtotal values but not metric values.

• Apply the threshold to metric and subtotal values  to apply the selected threshold to both metric and subtotal values.

Threshold list

The middle area of the dialog box lists all the thresholds applied to the metric selected in the toolbar. If a threshold has not been defined for the selected metric, the message "There are no items to show in this view" is displayed. Each threshold has a box that contains:

• The name of the threshold. The default name is New Threshold, but you can change it by selecting New Threshold and typing the new name.

• A check box in front of the threshold name that enables or disables it. If a threshold is disabled (the check box is cleared), it is not displayed.

  A user can also show or hide all the thresholds in the report, although you can disable this functionality. See Disabling and hiding thresholds for more information and instructions.

• The qualifications that determine whether the threshold is applied. Qualifications are the actual conditions that must be met, such as "Region = Northeast" or "Revenue > $1 million". Each threshold can have one or multiple qualifications; multiple qualifications are combined with operators such as AND and OR.

• The formatting applied when the qualifications are met. A sample of the formatting and replacement text/symbol is shown to the right. Click Format and select whether to:

  • Format the text. Click Edit the threshold formatting on the toolbar. To apply the background color to a graph if the threshold condition is satisfied, click Apply background color as a graph threshold on the toolbar.
    
    For example, in a report showing sales conversions (from leads to sales), you can display all data in green for those months when sales conversions are greater than 50%. You could also display data that falls below a certain percentage in red. You can also apply patterns and gradients to the values.

  • Replace text to replace the text on the report with new content that you enter in the (text) box to the right. You can change the format of the replacement text by clicking Edit the threshold formatting on the toolbar.
    
    For example, in a report showing the financial values of various sales opportunities, for those sales that have been lost you can display the word LOST in red, rather than displaying the financial value. A common use of this option is to display the word EMPTY when a data value is null.

  • Replace the text on the report with a Quick symbol. Choose the replacement symbol from the selection in the box next to the drop-down list. You can change the symbol's formatting (such as size, color, and border) by clicking Edit the threshold formatting on the toolbar.
    
    For example, in a report showing the financial contribution of various sales groups to overall sales office activity, for the monthly trend column you could show a green plus sign (+) and a red minus sign (-) to represent positive or negative contribution trends. Choose the replacement symbol from the box next to the drop-down list.

  • Replace the text on the report with an Image. For more information about specifying the source of the image, see Thresholds dialog box: Image options.
    
    For example, a report shows the values of open and closed sales for the past month. To focus attention on still-open sales data, you can replace the sales value data for all closed sales with the customer's company logo. A common use of this option is to display green, yellow, and red "traffic lights" (circles) to allow very quick, high-level analysis of data and immediately pinpoint specific groups of data that needs further analysis.

Accessing the Thresholds dialog box

1. Open a report in the Report Editor or the Report Viewer

   • How do I open a report in the Report Editor?

   • How do I open a report in the Report Viewer?

2. Right-click the metric to add a threshold to and choose Thresholds. The Thresholds dialog box opens.

Related Topics

• Applying thresholds

• Allow the threshold toggle

• Apply thresholds to a graph report

• Disable a threshold

• Disable the threshold toggle

• Enable a threshold

• Hide thresholds

• Show thresholds