Working with Variables/Prompts

Variables are parameters of a SAP data source and serve as placeholders for members, hierarchies, hierarchy nodes, formula elements, and texts. They often render as prompts in Analysis for Office when you insert that data source. After providing the variable values, the crosstab is displayed according to the selected values.

To change variable values, open the prompt dialog from the Analysis ribbon.

You can insert multiple data sources in your workbook and even on the same worksheet. It is possible that each data source will have variables defined. Because of this possibility, the prompt icon has two options available in the drop-down: Prompts for Workbook and Prompts for Data Source. If you choose Prompts for Workbook (the default when selecting the button), the prompt dialog will display all the prompts for all the data sources used in the workbook.

If you choose Prompts for Data Source, the prompt dialog will display only the prompts for the data source used for the selected crosstab.

Variants are saved prompt values. If you work with the same data source and respond to the variables the same way every time, you can save your responses and apply them the next time you use the data source. The variants of a document can also contain prompt values for different data sources. You can create a variant for your user (user-specific variant) or for all users (global variant). When you later open the workbook or query, you can apply your user-specific variants and all global variants. You can also change a variant by selecting different prompt values and saving the variant again. Variants can also be deleted.

Variants are created and maintained in the prompting dialog. When working with variants, there are two different modes:

• Document - variants created for the document; when choosing Prompts for Workbook.
• Data source - variants created for the inserted data source; when choosing Prompts for Data Source.