Bar Charts

Bar charts are one of the best ways to communicate information. They are simple and easy to read. A few simple upgrades will take your presentation one step beyond.

Shortcut Keys

For those of you who love keyboard shortcut keys… Enjoy!

http://tinyurl.com/QlikviewShortcuts

Concatenating Dimensions

Occasionally, we need to concatenate dimensions so that multiple answer questions don’t duplicate rows. A good example is using multiple segments on the same partner or store.

Sort with Dual()

Creating Calculated Dimensions is a handy way to customize a chart or list box, but it has been difficult to get the sort order correct. Luckily, there is a simple way to get your sort by using the Dual() function. The Dual() function, in its simplest form, brings back two results with one expression. Using it with a Calculated Dimension will let you specify the dimension results along with a numeric value to use as a sort.

A simple example: I need to limit the Regions in a chart to three specific regions. The normal way is to write the following expression:

     = If([Region.Name] = 'CEE', 'CEE',
        If([Region.Name] = 'EUR', ‘EUR',
        If([Region.Name] = 'META', 'META')))

This will bring back only CEE, EUR and META regions.

Using the Dual() function, we add the ability to sort numerically (notice the additions in RED):

     = If([Region.Name] = 'CEE', Dual('CEE',1),
        If([Region.Name] = 'EUR', Dual('EUR',3),
        If([Region.Name] = 'META', Dual('META',2))))

If you use Calculated Dimensions, give this a try!

Default Open Date

The question “How do I default my document to the right date?” has come up a few times and I’d like to offer one possible solution using document triggers.

Introduction

Welcome to Fortune Cookie BI. It's not a place for developers, programmers or DBAs, but for analysts who want to make their dashboards better and more useful. And prettier. Most of the posts will be derivative, meaning that I’ll take what I learn from the experts and hopefully add something useful. My dashboard examples will use Qlikview, but hopefully you’ll be able to translate them into whatever tool you choose to use.