I have an Object class for “YEAR”. It contains dimensions for Year, Quater, Month_Name (i.e. January, February, etc.) etc. From Webi, users create documents using the Month_Name dimension. When the report is displayed they can only sort via Ascend/Descend and not in the appropriate order, Jan., Feb, Mar, etc… From BO client there is a sort option for “Custom” which allows you to define the order or select from previously defined sort orders. I would like to make this as transparent to the Webi user as possible. I would like them to simply drag the Month_Name dimension into the query and have the sort order already formatted. Any ideas? Do others simply require both the month number and month name to be entered in the query?
Thanks for you response and insight. I agree and practice the goals of “true value effort” and “evolving one’s delivery system”, unfortunately our world is less receptive. I do not wish to debate this topic further on line, but welcome any off-line discussion, as it is obvious you are unfamiliar with my environment.
To refresh, the task at hand is to provide our customers with the ability to sort a dimension that represents the month (i.e. January, February, etc.) by calendar sequence from the Webi client. These customers use Webi to create their own reports on a “need to know basis” so their report needs are very free form. It would be easy to utilize the month number, however, this is not the desired format.
In a message dated 00-04-03 10:00:53 EDT, you write:
To refresh, the task at hand is to provide our customers with the ability to
sort a dimension that represents the month (i.e. January, February,
etc.)
by
calendar sequence from the Webi client. These customers use Webi to create their
own reports on a “need to know basis” so their report needs are very free form.
It would be easy to utilize the month number, however, this is not the desired
format.
The bottom line is that WEBI does not currently support the custom sort feature of the full client BusinessObjects software. Given that, you simply have fewer choices. Either the users or the data will have to be adjusted.
Can you configure the data to combine the numbers and the month names? Something like ‘01-January’, ‘02-February’, ‘03-March’… and so on? If so, that would provide the numeric sort to put the months in the right order, but still provide the full month name if desired.
To refresh, the task at hand is to provide our customers with the ability to
sort a dimension that represents the month (i.e. January, February, etc.) by
calendar sequence from the Webi client. These customers use Webi to create their
own reports on a "need to know basis" so their report needs are very free form.
It would be easy to utilize the month number, however, this is not the desired
format.
Mike, it’s not ideal, but here’s a pragmatic approach you could consider. Have a dimension object that consists of the month in numeric format (1 thru 12), with an associated detail object that has the month in alpha (January, February, etc.).
When the user pulls the detail alpha-month object into the query, by default the numeric object also pulls over. Teach them to apply the sort to the numeric-month object. They’ll have an extra column in the report. On the WebI Settings panel, they can try to make it a narrow column.
Mike,
Understand your dilemma, I went down this path about a year ago, and things may have moved on, however we thought about the following to achieve what you want :
Use Format (i.e create a beginning or end of month date and format as Mmm) Problems you will encounter :
a) Users may use this in a where cause (conditions) b) Users may change format and misunderstand the info c) The Biggie : GROUP BY !!! what do you do with YYYY in group functions, ie it is very common for people to want trend graphs with month at bottom and individual year lines
Include a Month Number object (possibly as a detail object to Month name) and train users to select this object when they want to sort by Month. You can use White text on White backgound and turn of the header to minimise impact to report
Problems :
a) explaining to users how and when to use this object b) Drill up/down on Month Name and the Month Number object isn’t linked
Rename Month Name object so that it is alphabetic (i.e. “01 jan” “a.Jan” etc), using decode & concat statement
a) Looks unprofessional
b) requires change when BO finally provide customised sort (to unknown number of Client reports)
lobby Vendors to provide Customised sort on Common date variables I imagine this will eventually happen, which will make most of the above solutions redundent
I always tell Users that Webi is an immature product, and they are usually understanding, 200 very senior managers who don’t take “no” lightly seem to being living with Month Num (as well as Year Num, Quarter Num, Week Num objects).
Added bonuses associated with Month Number is that you can create automatic YTD conditions (MTH <= CURR MTH etc)
