This lesson covers the significance of granting users the necessary authorization to display and navigate attributes in reports, enhancing the usability and functionality of reports by providing additional information.
Creating Analysis Authorizations for Display and Navigational Attributes
Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to create analysis authorizations for display and navigational attributes
Business Example
Display and Navigational Attributes
When you use attributes, you provide more details about a characteristic. For instance, by assigning the attribute telephone number to the Business Partner characteristic, you can easily display the business partner's telephone number in your report.
You can assign attributes to characteristics in the InfoObject maintenance editor. Each attribute can be defined as a display attribute or as a navigation attribute, which is more powerful. Navigation attributes automatically inherit the same features as display attributes, so they can still be used as display attributes.
The following figure shows how the Cost Center (U00_COST1) characteristic within the U00_COMPO1 InfoProvider, uses Company Code (0COMP_CODE) and Currency key (0CURRENCY) as display attributes. The characteristic has Responsible Person (U00_RESP) as a navigation attribute (U00_COST1__U00_RESP) that can also be used as a display attribute.
To define queries, Navigation attributes can be used in the same way as characteristics. Navigation attributes appear in the dimension of the characteristic to which they belong.
To use an attribute as a navigation attribute in a query, you must enable the attribute at both the InfoObject and InfoProvider levels.
Here's how to use an attribute as a navigation attribute in a query:
- Go to the InfoObject maintenance of the characteristic and enable the attribute to be usable as a navigation attribute.
- Next, in the InfoProvider (usually CompositeProvider), make sure to enable the navigation attribute to be usable in queries.
Comparing Display and Navigation Attributes
- Display Attributes
- These attributes can only be displayed within the report, together with the characteristics to which they are assigned. Extra querying, filtering, or drilling down is not available.
- Navigation Attributes
- These attributes can be used in the report independently of the characteristics to which they are assigned. This allows for further querying, filtering, and drilling down for more insightful analysis.
Analysis Authorizations for Display and Navigation Attributes
Analysis Authorizations for Characteristics Used as Display Attributes
To view the display attribute values in the report, users must have complete analysis authorization (*).
Without this authorization, the column/row with the display attribute values will be hidden.
- For instance, the authorization-relevant characteristic 0BIRTHDATE used as a display attribute for 0EMPLOYEE requires users to have authorization * in order to display the attribute column/row in the report.
Analysis Authorizations for Key Figures Used as Display Attributes
Key figures are used in transactional data, such as actual costs for a cost center, as well as in master data for display attributes, like an employee's annual salary.
Remember: Single key figures cannot be marked as authorization-relevant.
To set key figures as authorization-relevant, you set the authorization relevance for the special characteristic 0TCAKYFNM.
To display the key figure as a display attribute, you need analysis authorization for the special characteristic 0TCAKYFNM, using the technical name of the key figure as the authorized value.
- Thus, this principle applies to key figures used as transactional data and as master data in the same way.
For instance, the key figure annual target salary (0ANSALARY) is found in the attribute master data of the employee characteristic (0EMPLOYEE). If users have the 0TCAKYFNM field in their analysis authorization and the 0ANSALARY as a value, they can display the key figure attribute column/row in the report.
Analysis Authorizations for Navigational Attributes
- To mark a navigation attribute as authorization-relevant, independently of its basic characteristic, select the checkbox Authorization-Relevant on the Attributes tab in InfoObject maintenance.
- When it comes to analysis authorizations, navigation attributes are managed just like ordinary characteristics.
Summarizing Example
The following figure illustrates a report example that summarizes the analysis of authorization needs for attributes and key figures.
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