Dashboard filters are dashboard elements that you can create and attach to scorecards and reports in PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer to help restrict the types of data that you display in your dashboards. For example, you can create a Time filter to show data for a particular time period, or for multiple time periods, such as a number of years. Or, you can create a Teams filter to show data for one or more groups in your organization.
What do you want to do?
Choose a type of filter
When you create a dashboard filter, you must first decide what type of filter you want to create. Dashboard filters vary in their appearance and functionality, and typically belong to one of the following groups:
Stand-alone filters that you create by using a wizard
A stand-alone filter appears as an individual element in a dashboard. Use a stand-alone filter when you want to do any of the following tasks:
- Create a filter that appears as an individual element in a dashboard.
- Enable dashboard consumers to select one or more items from a list or from an expandable tree to specify what items to apply as a filter.
- Link a filter to multiple reports and scorecards.
Queries that are embedded in individual reports or scorecards
An embedded query is a filter that is built into a report or scorecard to display specific information that is in that report or scorecard. An embedded query is not evident in a dashboard because it is seamlessly integrated into an individual report or scorecard. Use an embedded query when you want to do any of the following tasks:
- Create a filter that is built into a report or a scorecard by using custom queries and/or background items.
- Set up a report or a scorecard so that dashboard consumers see specific information by default when they open the report or scorecard.
- Apply a filter that is specific to an individual report or scorecard.
Scorecard key performance indicators (KPIs) that are linked to reports
Dashboard consumers can click a linked KPI to view additional information about a metric. Select a linked KPI when you want to do any of the following tasks:
- Use a KPI as a filter for other reports.
- Enable dashboard consumers to click a KPI to see more information about its underlying details.
- Link a KPI to multiple reports.
After you decide which type of filter you want, proceed to Create your filter.
Note For more information about the different types of filters that you can create, see Creating filters in PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer.
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Create your filter
The method that you use to create your filter depends on the type of filter that you want to create.
| To do this |
click this link |
| Learn how to create a stand-alone filter by using a wizard. |
Choose the procedure that corresponds to the filter template that you want to use.
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| Learn about filters that are built into reports or scorecards by using custom queries and/or background items. |
About using MDX in Dashboard Designer |
| Learn how to use KPIs as filters for other reports in a dashboard. |
Link scorecard KPIs to analytic reports |
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Add your filter to a dashboard page
Whether you must add your filter to a dashboard page depends on the type of filter that you create. When you create filters that appear as individual dashboard elements, you must add them to your dashboard page, and then connect them to one or more reports and scorecards. In contrast, when you create filters that are custom queries, background items, or KPIs that are linked to analytic reports, those filters are already in your dashboard, as part of your reports or scorecards.
The procedures that follow apply only to the stand-alone filters that you create by using the Create a Filter wizard.
Note Before you begin, make sure that you have already created a dashboard that contains at least one scorecard or report, and a filter. Although you create filters in the workspace of a dashboard, that filter is not included in a dashboard page until you add it by using the following procedure.
Part I: Drag the filter to a dashboard zone
- In Dashboard Designer, click the Home tab, and then click Refresh to refresh the list of elements that are saved to Monitoring Server. In the Workspace Browser, click Dashboards. The center pane of the workspace displays two tabs: Server and Workspace. The Server tab lists all the dashboards that you and other dashboard authors have published to Monitoring Server. The Workspace tab lists all the dashboards that you have created or opened in your workspace.
Click the Workspace tab to view the list of dashboards that are available in your workspace. If the dashboard that you want to edit is not listed, click the Server tab. Double-click the dashboard to open it in your workspace.
- In the center pane, click the Editor tab.
- In the Details pane, click the plus sign (+) next to Filters to expand the list of available filters. Drag the filter that you want to use to a dashboard zone.
Note If you do not see any filters listed in the Details pane, then no filters have been created for that dashboard. Create a filter, and then proceed.
- Click the Home tab, and then click Publish All to save your changes to Monitoring Server.
Part II: Connect the filter to a report or a scorecard
- In Dashboard Designer, click the Editor tab in the workspace for the dashboard that you want to modify. Locate the filter that you want to connect to a report or a scorecard.
- Click the down arrow next to the filter name in the dashboard zone, and then click Create Link. The Filter Link Editor dialog box opens.
- Click the Link Items tab. The name of the filter that you just added to the dashboard should be listed in the Filter box. If it is not listed, use the Filter list to select it. Then, use the Linked dashboard item list to select the report or scorecard that you want to link to the filter.
- Click the Link Options tab, and specify your Dashboard item endpoint, Source value, and Filter Link Formula settings by using the following procedures:
Specify the Dashboard item endpoint
Use the Dashboard item endpoint list to select the dimension that you want to use. That is, specify where you want the results of the query to appear in the report.
For example, suppose that you have a report that contains product categories and measures such as gross profit and gross profit margin. Suppose further that you want to link the report to a filter that contains a list of different geographical regions. If you select Product Categories in the Dashboard item endpoint list, then the product categories information in your report is replaced with the information about the geographical regions that are selected in the filter.
Specify a Source value
Use the Source value list to select an available source for the filter. The Source value that you select corresponds to the data that your filter queries when dashboard consumers use the filter. Depending on the type of filter that you are configuring, your options vary. For most filters, you should select the data source for the report or scorecard that you link to the filter.
Specify a Filter Link Formula
Note When you add a Time Intelligence Post Formula filter to your dashboard, you must specify a Filter Link Formula. However, when you add other types of filters, it is typically at the option of advanced users whether to specify a Filter Link Formula or not.
Click Filter Link Formula to open the Formula Editor dialog box. There, you can specify a custom Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) query and/or a Time Intelligence formula for your filter. See the following resources for more information.
- After you specify your settings in the Link Options tab of the Filter Link Editor dialog box, click OK. Click the Home tab, and then click Publish All to save your dashboard to Monitoring Server. Your filter is now in your dashboard and is linked to a report or scorecard.
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See next steps
Click the link that most closely matches what you want to learn more about.
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