Data Visualization in an EPM World - Part 2 - Setting Filters and Creating a Template

In my first post in my series Data Visualization in an EPM World; I showed how to connect and explore the dimensions within DV.  This post will show some of the nuances of filters and setting up the canvas Point of View (POV)

When creating a DV Project from an EPM data source you need to bring all the dimensions to the filters and set some value or All for top member depending on the type of Visualization is being created.

First I will start with the Account Dimension.  I will use Account Default for the default alias and because it has all the members in the dimension and set the filter to 40000-Revenues.

Next, I will bring in the Cost Center Default

Notice that the values do not show up.  This is default setting for the filter to Limit what is shown based on other filters.  In a future release this default will be able to be changed.  In the meantime place cursor just the right of the filter name and a small downward triangle will appear, click on Limit Values By and select None.

  

 Now you will see values for Cost Center.  If no values are select the filter assumes All.

Set all the remaining dimensions to the filter bar and set values where needed.  For the purpose of my visual a Performance Tile the dimensions Years, Period, Currency, Scenario and Version each needs to be set to a specific member.

The tedious part of setting the Filter POV is changing the Limit Values By setting on each filter.  That is why I recommend setting up the POV and then saving the file as a template to save time on future projects and then when in a project duplicate the canvas.

One thing to note, each visualization has a filter, so a dimension can be removed from the global filter and used in the visualization filter.

  

The only limitation with the visualization filter is that you do not have same Limit Values By option.

So with a bit of work you can quickly get a base DV Project using EPM Data.

 

My next post will look at other visualization that work well with EPM data and I will explore some calculated fields that can help better tell the data story.