 Drill Across Designer

When the drill across feature is enabled, users can click a data cell in Ad Hoc Analysis, and the supporting data appears in a data view.

  Example:  You could be using Ad Hoc Analysis to examine sales summary data from your sales model, and you could right-click a data cell and then select a data view that would connect to the relevant sales details, stored in a sales database outside FP&A Plus.

Administrators use Drill Across Designer to create and maintain drill across definitions.

Open Drill Across Designer

• Click the logo at the top-left corner and select  Drill Across Designer.

Open Drill Across Designer through a file

• In Document Explorer, click a  drill across definition file; the file opens in a  Drill Across Designer tab.

Create or edit a  drill across definition

To create a drill across definition in Drill Across Designer, you choose select a set of columns from a table in that data source. You then map the columns to dimensions in a model. You finish by defining the data formats.

1. Do one of the following:
   • Select  File >  New.
   • Select File >   Open.
2. Select from the Table drop-down.
3. To set the sort order for the Display columns:
   • Click Custom Sort.
   • Under Columns, select the table column(s) to sort on.
   • Under Sort Order, choose each sort column's order (Ascending or Descending).
   • Click OK.
4. Click  and select the Display columns, moving the columns that you want in the drill across definition into the list on the right, and click OK.
5. Click , select the model that contains the dimensions to map, and click OK.
6. Select the Display tab. Here, you manage the columns that appear in the drill across definition, and map them to dimensions in a model.
7. To change the display columns, click .
8. For each display column, do the following:
   • Under Dimension map, click  and select the dimension to map the column to.

   • Under Member type, click  and select an option for how the dimension member should be displayed in the drill-across results.

     For example, if you select Member plus children, the drill-across will show the associated data for the member, along with the data for its children.

   • Alternatively, you can map to a dimension through a table: under Mapping table, click , browse to and select the mapping table file.

       Note:  Mapping tables that contain wild-card characters are not supported when applied to a drill across definition file.

9. To see the live data, click  Preview.

10. Select the Format tab. Here, you specify how you want the data formatted.

    You can have a string data type (that is, a text value) appear as a URL when the user runs Drill Across. If the user clicks the URL, the linked page opens in a new tab in the browser.

    To create a hyperlink:

    • in the Show as column, select URL
    • the string must contain the prefix http:// or https://
11. If you want a numeric column to have a total when the drill-across data appears to users, under Sum, turn on the check box.
12. Select cell alignment options and data formats. To see how the format selections affect the live data, click  Preview.
13. Select  File >  Save or  Save as.

FAQ

What permissions do I need?

To use Drill Across Designer you must be assigned the Relational Data View Creation or the Drill Across Designer function (in Security Manager).

What is a drill across definition?

It is a data set drawn from a data source outside FP&A Plus, typically a relational database.

Who creates a drill across definition?

Administrators use Drill Across Designer to create relational data views.

How is a drill across definition created?

You build a drill across definition in three main steps:

1. Define the column mappings.
2. Add the data formats.

  Note:  Each step has its own drawer in Drill Across Designer.

What is a mapping table?

A mapping table matches external data fields to model data fields. Typically a mapping table is needed when external keys used to identify accounts or other dimension members are not the same as those used in a model.

  Example:  A remote location in your organization may have a separate accounting system with its own chart of accounts.

Mapping tables are created with the Mapping Table Editor and stored as their own file type.