Interacting and Filtering in your Document

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to use Web Intelligence controls to filter and interact with data.

Filters and Interactive Controls

When you open a Web Intelligence document with a reader profile, you can filter data and interact with the document.

Refresh

The Refresh function updates a document with the latest data from its source.

You can choose which data sources to refresh:

  • To update all data sources, click the Refresh button in the toolbar.
  • To update specific data sources, open the drop-down menu in the Refresh button and select Advanced Refresh. In the Refresh Data Providers dialog box, select the data sources you want to update.
The Advanced Refresh option under the Query menu opens a dialog to select and refresh multiple data providers with details on last refresh date and row count.

Filter Bar

In a Web Intelligence document, the Filter bar helps you quickly narrow down the data you view. You can filter the data already in the document without running the query again.

To use the Filter bar, select it from the Main toolbar. A new bar appears at the top of the report. It contains input controls shown as drop-down menus.

The report updates to show only the data that matches your selections.

Filter menu selects California, New York, and Texas states, with an OK button to apply the filter to the word cloud visualization.

New Interactive Report Filters

Watch the video to explore new interactive report filters.

Custom Tooltips

Custom tooltips let you change the information that appears when you hover your mouse over a chart or a table. By default, when you hover over an element, a small pop-up called the tooltip shows the basic data value. With custom tooltips, you can design this pop-up to display additional information.

For example, if you are a sales manager, you might look at a bar chart that shows total sales for each sales representative. Normally, hovering over a bar shows only that person's total sales. With a custom tooltip, you can set it up so that when you hover over the bar, the pop-up shows the number of deals closed and the top-selling product category. This turns a simple chart into a performance summary. You get deeper insights without running a separate report.

Clicking the Texas bar in the sales revenue chart opens a detailed SAP BusinessObjects BI 2025 dashboard for Texas with city and monthly breakdowns.

Drill

Drilling helps you explore your data in more detail. You can find the information behind the summary results shown in tables, charts, or sections.

When you drill on a dimension, the system calculates results based on the values you select.

For example, a report can show total sales revenue by state and year. If you select a year, the report shows sales revenue by state and quarter. Quarter is the next level in the time hierarchy below year.

The Analyze dropdown button is highlighted to indicate drilling down from the 2025 column to view quarterly data for each state.

Sort

Sorting data lets you arrange your report data in a specific order. This makes it easier to review and understand your information.

You can sort data based on the values in one or more columns. You can sort data in ascending order (from smallest to largest or A to Z), descending order (from largest to smallest or Z to A), or in a custom order.

Sort icon with the number 1 appears highlighted, indicating one active sort applied to the State field in descending order.

Rank

Ranking lets you display a specific number of top or bottom values. This helps you highlight important data, such as the top five products by sales or the bottom three regions by profit.

You can configure these options:

  • Top or Bottom: Choose whether to show the highest or lowest values.
  • Based on: Select the measure that determines the rank, such as sales revenue.
  • Ranked by: Apply the rank within groups, such as the top three products for each region.
  • Calculation mode: Set how many values to display, such as 10.
Rank panel configures to display the top 2 sales revenue values per state, with calculation mode set to count.

Let's Summarize What You've Learned

  • Refresh data sources to ensure documents display the latest information.
  • Use the filter bar and new report elements to narrow data and update reports without rerunning queries.
  • Apply custom tooltips to display additional insights when hovering over charts or tables.
  • Drill into data to explore details behind summary results in reports.
  • Sort and rank data to highlight key information and make reports easier to analyze.

Interact with a Document in Reading Mode

Business Example

Your manager asks you to analyze regional sales performance for a quarterly review meeting. You need to identify the quantity sold in key lines and assess the sales revenue, focusing on states with high sales volumes like California, Colorado, Florida, and New York.