Building a Sales Dashboard Using SAP Xcelsius

Multi-dimensional Reporting With PivotTables

MOTIVATIONYou are a manger of Global Bike Incorporated and one of your responsibilities is to make decisions related to ordering, promotions, customer discounts as well as monitoring and managing the daily operations of the store. You have a number of OLTP systems to assist with the day to day transactions. Each month you are provided with a report which displays each sale. The format of the report is illustrated below.Although this report provides a lot of information, the information is not in a format which can assist in the type of decisions you are required to make. You have decided to investigate PivotTables as means to producing more useful reports

LEARNING METHODThe learning method used is guided learning. The benefit of this method is that knowledge is imparted quickly. Students also acquire practical skills and competencies. As with an exercise, this method explains a process or procedure in detail.

Exercises at the end enable students to put their knowledge into practice.

ProductMicrosoft Excel 2007/2010

LevelBeginner

FocusMulti-dimensional Reporting

AuthorPaul Hawking

Version 2

The primary purpose of an information system is to process information to produce reports to facilitate decision making. Reports may appear in various formats and used to support a diverse range of organisational decisions. Reports provide a mechanism for organising, analysing, presenting and delivering information to end users. A common classification of reports is based on the types of systems which they are built from. On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems as the name suggests are optimised for transaction processing. They process real time information and are accessed by many users. The reports are derived from the various business transactions and predominately support tactical decision making.

An alternative information system is On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP). This type of processing allows users to analyse information by creating multidimensional reports. They deal with large volumes of aggregated historical data. OLAP based reports are more flexible than the more traditional reports produced by an OLTP system.

As mentioned previously OLTP reports provide information about particular transactions. The type of reports an OLTP system produces could include:

Who purchased a particular product? How much did an employee get paid? How many of a product was manufactured?

The flexibility of OLAP reporting assists end users in understanding why particular business events have occurred and or forecast what may occur in the future. The types of questions an OLAP system can assist with could include:

What are the total sales for each product? What are the total sales for each department? Which salesperson has sold the most? Which products does each salesperson sell the most of? In which month did most of the sales occur?

OLAP systems and their ability for multi-dimensional reporting are considered an important component of Business Intelligence. OLTP systems often provide the transactional data which is used as an input for OLAP systems multi-dimensional reports.

To gain a better understanding of multi-dimensional reporting and related concepts we have created a number of exercises using Microsoft Excels PivotTable.

Pivot Tables An example of a multidimensional reporting tool is Microsoft Excels PivotTable function. A PivotTable is a tool which assists users with summarising large amounts of data into useful reports. The PivotTables flexibility enables you to re-arrange the tables structure (columns and rows) until you get the required information. The following exercises will highlight the role of PivotTables in multi-dimensional reporting1. SavePivotTable.xlsx to your local drive. Your workshop leader will provide the files location.

2. Openthe PivotTable.xlsx worksheet.

It should appear similar to the one below:

You will notice that there are more than 7,000 transactions and in their present format it is difficult to identify trends. Think about how you would determine which Material sold the most and which Sales Organisation had the the highest sales for this Material.Microsoft Excel requires you to convert the data to table format before you can apply the PivotTable features. In Table format you can perform some simple formatting, such as Filtering to improve the report.3.ClickA2 to select a cell within the proposed table.4.Click to display the table formatting options.

5.Selectone of the formatting options.

A dialog box appears to confirm your table range and header options.

6.Click to complete the process.Filtering DataYou are returned to your worksheet and your Table has been formatted as to your selection. But you will notice that your heading row now includes drop-down arrows.

The drop-down arrows allow you to sort and filter the data in your Table. This can be done alphabetically, numerically, or aggregated. Currently the data is sorted by Sales Organisation then by Material. If you want to see all the sales for a Material then it needs to be sorted by Material.

7.Click next to Material to display the Sorting dialog box.

The Sorting dialog box is aware that the column selected is text and only displays the options available to be performed on text.

8.Click to sort Material ascending.You are returned to your worksheet and your data has been sorted. Notice that the drop-down arrow has changed , to indicate that the data has been sorted .

You can see the impact of the sorting by using the Undo and Redo buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar.

9.Click to un-sort the data in the Table.

10.Click to resort the data in the Table.You can also Filter the data based on the datas numerical value. A Filter is different to the Sort function as only data that meets the Filter criteria will be displayed. While with Sort all data is displayed. Currently Materials can be sold through two different Distribution Channels, either by the Internet (IN) or by Wholesale (WH). You could use the Filter function to display all Internet.

11.Click next to Distribution Channel to display the Sorting dialog box.

You will notice that currently that all values are selected in the Text Filters area. You only want IN (Internet) selected.

12.Click to de-select all values.

13.Clickto select this value.

14.Click to complete the process.

If you scroll through your data you will notice that only Internet sales appear.

Notice that the drop-down arrow has changed to indicated that a Filter is applied. As mentioned you can remove a Filter by clicking the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar. You can also remove it by clicking the drop-down arrow on the field that the Filter has been applied. 16.Click to display the dialog box.

Tip If you place your mouse over the Filter icon the current Filter criteria will be displayed

17.Click to remove the Filter.

All the data appears on screen. You can also apply Filters to numbers. For example you want to only display sold Quantities greater than 90.

18.Click next to Quantity to display the Sorting dialog box.

19.Click to display the numerical filters.

The sub-menu gives you an indication as to the type of numerical filters that can be applied to your data. Some of the filters require you to enter the values that the data will be filtered on.

20.Click to create a Filter on Quantity Greater Than 90.

A dialog box appears:

21.Type90 in the text box.

Other than typing the value in the text box, you could have clicked the drop-down arrow to display the values from your Table.

22.Click to complete the process.

Your screen should appear as follows:

Notice that the drop-down arrow has changed to indicated that a Filter is applied. As mentioned you can remove a Filter by clicking the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar. You can also remove it by clicking the drop-down arrow on the field that the Filter has been applied.

23.Click to remove the Filter.

All the data appears on screen.

Try and answer the following questions from the data.

Which Material sold the most in terms of Quantity?

How many 7 Gear bikes were sold in June 2007?

Creating a PivotTablePreviously you formatted your data as a Table. By applying this format to the data you are provided with extra functionality through the Table Design Ribbon.

24.Click tab to display the Table Design Ribbon.To create a PivotTable:

24.Click in the Tools Group.

A dialog box appears to confirm the selection for the PivotTable. You will notice that there is a flashing border around your Table.

26.Click to complete the process.

A new worksheet appears on screen. On the right of the screen is a PivotTable Design Area. Also a PivotTable Ribbon appears across the top of the screen.

The PivotTable Design Area lists all the column headings (fields) of your Table.

The bottom area allows you to drag the column headings to design your new PivotTable.

To understand PivotTables better you are now going to create a PivotTable that indicates the Total sales Quantity for each Sales Organisation

27.Click next to the Sales Organisation field in the PivotTable Filed List to select it. Notice that Sales Organisation appears in the Row Labels design area.

Notice that the Sales Organisations appear on the worksheet.

You now want to include the total Quantity for each Sales Organisation.

28.Click next to Quantity to select this field.

Notice that the field appears on the worksheet and is automatically placed in the area. Excel has determined that this field is numerical and is suggesting that that it should be aggregated by summing the values. Important numerical values that form the basis of analysis in multi-dimensional reports are often referred to as key figures, measures, or facts.Your worksheet now lists all the orders and their total sales revenue.

However you would like to see Quantity for each Material.

29.Click next to Material to select this field.

The Material field appears in the Row Labels design area and the Materials are listed with each Sales Organisation.

This is an example of multi-dimensional reporting using the Sales Organisation, Material and Qunatity dimensions. The next exercise will further demonstrate the flexibility of this type of reporting.

This has been helpful in terms of the sales Quantity for each Sales Organisation and Materials within this organisation. But maybe a more valuable report would be which Materials sold the most Quantity in which Sales Organisations. In other words we want to change how the data is grouped.

30.Click next to Material in the Row Labels area to display the context menu.

31.ClickMove Up to select this command.

The Material field now appears above the Sales Organisation field. Notice how this impacts on your report.

The Quantity total for each Sales Organisation is grouped under each Material and a grand total (190936) of all Materials has been calculated at the bottom of the pivottable. Maybe to help you better make decisions you would like see the total Quantity for each Material that has been sold. Each Material is listed with it Total sales Quantity.

Reports should include a time dimension to indicate the period when the transactions occurred. The report currently provides you with sales Quantity you dont know over what duration this occurred. This can be quickly remedied by adding the Month/Year dimension.

33.Click next to Month/Year to select this field and add it to your report.

How many 7 Gear bikes were sold in June 2007?

You now have a report that lists the sales Quantity for each Month/Year for each Material. Think how difficult it was to determine was to answer the questions previously when not using a PivotTable.

Navigating Multidimensional ReportsYou have had a quick demonstration of the flexibility of multi-dimensional reporting using PivotTables. There are a number of common terms used in Business Intelligence which describe how you navigate in this type of reporting. Firstly you need to add another dimension.

34.Click next to Sales Organisation to select this field and add it to the PivotTable.

Drill-UpThis is where the user moves through the dimensions from a detailed view to a more summarised view (less detail). For example:

35.Click next to order Jan-06 belonging to 7 Gear.

The details of the Sales Organisations for the Material (7 Gear) are no longer displayed. However the total sales Quantity is still visible. Notice that has changed to indicating that there is further data which can be displayed.

36.PracticeDrill-Up on different Materials and Month/Year.

Drill-DownThis is the opposite of Drill-Up. A user can navigate through the dimensions to display more detailed data.37.Click next to order Jan-06 belonging to 7 Gear.

The detail for each Sales Organisation for that Material appears.

38.PracticeDrill-Down on different Materials and Month/Years.

Note: You can Drill-Up or Down-Down by double-clicking the relevant dimension.

A common dimension used for Drilling-Up and Drilling-Down is Time. For example if the data included the years sales then you could navigate by Year, Quarter Month, Week, and or Day. Most multi-dimensional reports have a Time component. The level of detail which is displayed is referred to as granularity.

Drill-ThroughThis describes the navigation from the aggregated multi-dimensional report data back to the underlying transaction data for the selected item.

Slice and Dice This refers to navigation whereby the user views the data from different business points of view (dimensions). For example the diagram below illustrates Slice and Dice navigation.A multi-dimensional structure has been designed to enable a user to report on Material sales by Distribution Channel and Sales Organisation. This would display all records.

It is possible to navigate through the structure to view a subset of the data. For example a report which displays all sales for a particular Material in all Sales Organisations and Distribution Channels.

Alternatively a user could Slice the data to view all Materials sold via all Distribution Channels for a particular Sales Organisation.

Through Dicing more granularity can be achieved. For example:

You will now create another PivotTable to see Slice and Dice in action. Firstly you need to remove the current PivotTable.

39.De-select of the selected fields in the design area to remove the PivotTable.

40.Click next to Material, Distribution Channel, Sales Organisation, and Quantity to select these fields .

Your PivotTable should appear similar to the one below.

Currently all records are displayed. To limit the view to a particular Material (Cruze Bike):41.Click next to Row Labels in to display a context menu.

42.Click next to (Select All) to de-select the current selections.

43.Click next to Cruze Bike to select this Material.

44.Click to complete the process.

Your PivotTable has now been Sliced to only display the results for the Cruze Bike Material. You can further Slice the data to show only the sales Quantity for a particular Distribution Channel (Wholesale) in a Sales Organisation (Sydney).

45.Right-ClickWH to display the context menu.

46.ClickFilter then Keep Only Selected Items to filter on this Distribution Channel.

Your PivotTable has been adjusted accordingly. Notice that the design area indicates that Filters have been applied to Material and Distribution Channel.

To remove these Filters:

47.Click next to Distribution Channel in the PivotTable Field List to display the context menu.

48.Click next to (Select All) to display all Distribution Channels.

49.Click to complete the process

50.Click next to Material in the Design Area to display the context menu.

51.Click next to (Select All) to display all Materials.

52.Click to complete the process

You have now completed the tutorial on PivotTables. PivotTables can be a very powerful tool which provides an extensive range of functionality. The previous exercises were designed to introduce you to the concept of multi-dimensional reporting and its associated terminology. You should now be aware of what advantages it provides compared to the more traditional OLTP reporting. However there are some shortcomings especially handling large data volumes (million records). When the data comes from different systems and is in different formats there is a lot of work required before it can be manipulated in a PivotTable. You may have noticed with the original data that sales revenue was included. However these figures were in different currencies which made calculations and comparisons difficult. A data warehouse overcomes many of these issues.

Following are some develop your skills exercises for you to assess your understanding of multi-dimensional reporting and PivotTables. Create reports to answer the following questions.

a) Which material provided the most revenue in Sydney?

b) What is the total sales revenue for Germany?

c) What is the total wholesale quantity?

Paul Hawking1

Paul Hawking SAP Mentor3June 2011