It's time now to work with the worksheet layout, so that it shows some data. To see more data on the worksheet, let's first add a couple of rows to the underlying database tables. So, connect to SQLPlus as usr/usr and issue the following statements:
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Turn back now to the worksheet discussed here and follow the given steps to make it show some data:
1. First let's remove the Quantity and Unitprice columns from the worksheet.
So, select the Quantity column and hit Delete to remove it from the layout.
Do the same with the Unitprice column.
At this point, the worksheet should look like the following one:
As you can see in the screenshot, there are three items on the top axis and there is no left axis item.
For details on axis items, refer to Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus User's Guide.
2. Let's move an item from the top axis to the left axis. Say, let's do that with the Prodname item, by dragging it to the left axis, just between the Name and Orddate items, as shown in the following screenshot:
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As a result of the previous operation, you should see that a dataset has ap-peared in the worksheet:
Examining the worksheet data, you may notice that it's not properly formatted. In particular, dollar amounts presented here are not preceded by the dollar sign ($), as it might be expected by the user. So, it would be a good idea to format the data.
3. Right-click any cell on the worksheet and select Format Data… in the pop-up menu.
4. In the Format Data dialog, move to the Number tab and select the Currency category. Then, increase the Decimal Places to 2 as shown in the following screenshot:
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Click OK to change the format and close the dialog. Now if you look at the worksheet, you should see that each number is followed by the $ sign and has two decimal places for cents.
5. Move the TotalSUM item from the top axis to the left axis. The result should look like this:
As you can see, the worksheet now aggregates the sales figures grouped by product for each date across salespersons.
The previous worksheet does not look detailed because you have just a few rows in each of the underlying tables. In practice, though, with thousands of records in the orders table alone, aggregating the data at the date level would result in a very multicolumn worksheet, unless you narrow down the allowed date range to just a few days. So, we often need to aggregate data at the month or quarter level.
Pivotin�� usin�� the dra��-and-drop feature
In the preceding section, you've built a worksheet, organizing the data at each axis at two levels. In particular, the data on the top level has been organized at the salesperson and date levels, and on the left axis at the total sum and product levels.
Now, suppose you want to look at the data from another angle, moving the total sum item to the top axis and the Name item to the left axis. This can be easily done with the drag-and-drop feature in the way you did in the preceding section. The resulting worksheet should look like the following screenshot:
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Comparing this with the preceding screenshot, you might notice the figures in the worksheet have remained the same but their order has changed. No surprises here—this is simply a different perspective on the same dataset.is simply a different perspective on the same dataset.
Suppose now you want to sum up the figures in the columns in the worksheet to see the total sales for each date. To do this, follow the given steps:
1. Go to thethe Calculations tab in the Item Navigator. Once there, right-click thein the Item Navigator. Once there, right-click thethe Item Navigator. Once there, right-click the My Totals item and select New Total….
2. In the New Total dialog, select the Total SUM in the Which data point would you like to create a total on select box.
3. In thethe New Total dialog, select the SUM in the What kind of total do you want select box. The dialog should now look like the following screenshot:
Then, click OK to create a new total and close the dialog. The worksheet should now look like this:
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Summary
In this chapter, you looked at pivoting. You saw how easy it is to change a crosstab worksheet's layout with the help of the drag-and-drop feature of Discoverer Plus.
The ability to pivot through data enables you to explore data relationships more efficiently, thus allowing for more effective analysis.
Continuing with the topic of reorganizing worksheet data for effective analysis, the next chapter will cover how you might drill data up and down.
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