Explorations vs. Reports in 6.4 and 7.1

[JimLittle]

I'm finding that often a data exploration needs to become a report in VA.

Currently I'm using 6.4 and when you export an Exploration as a report, it is very limited...

For example, the data structures/definitions/hierarchy is maintained (great). However, any charts that are pulled across are non-editable (for example, you can't reassign roles).

Can anyone tell me whether this (pretty major) irritation persists in 7.1?

Also, why are the two packages (Explorer and Reporter) so similar - yet separate? Will future VA versions move towards a tool that can both explore and then report?

James.

[ted_werner_sas_com]

Hello James,

Thank You for the feedback, and we are aware of these items.  We are working on making that user flow of visualization seamless where as you explore data it has a more natural progression to turn into a production report.  I will provide more news on this front later, but product management is aware of what you are describing. 

Thank you for the feedback,

Ted Werner

[JimLittle]

Thanks Ted,

Another question which is related to this... When developing an exploration or report, a lot of time is spent writing custom measures and defining the aggregations. This can take a lot of time and effort.

Is there a way to re-use some sort of 'data dictionary' so that you don't have to spend time making the data work each time?

I have noticed that when exporting an Exploration as a Report, the data structure is preserved (which is a start) but it would be a lot easier to have defined rules?

James.

[MichelleHomes]

Hi James,

Good question! Being able to share calculated data items, aggregations, hierarchies, geographies, filters etc between explorations and reports as shared metadata objects for tables would be very handy. I've requested this in the past. As a work around, what I've suggested to people is to create exploration and report templates so that these are defined once in a read-only folder (to avoid being overwritten) and can be used as a starting point to create your own explorations and reports as need be.

Kind Regards,

Michelle

[jackiemyers]

Michelle - can you explain how to create an exploration template?

Thanks!

Jackie

[MichelleHomes]

Hi Jackie,

The idea of a template is to have the data item properties set up for standard use so that you use this as a basis for starting a new exploration or report. Create the geographies, hierarchies, formats, new calculated items, shared display rules, custom categories/colors, filtersetc Save it in a read-only folder and this exploration or report becomes the starting point for your content developers when they want to build explorations, reports and dashboards.

Kind Regards,

Michelle