In PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer, you can create filters that make it easy for dashboard users to view specific information of interest to them. For example, you can create a Geography filter that dashboard consumers can use to view information that is specific to a particular region. Or, you can create a Product Categories filter that dashboard consumers can use to view information that is specific to a particular group of products.

When you create dashboard filters that you want to link to one or more reports in your dashboard, you typically begin by using the Create a Filter wizard. You use the wizard to select one of several templates, which vary by the method and the data source that you use to create your filter.

Select the Tabular Values template to create a filter that works with data stored in a tabular data source. When you create the filter, you specify a hierarchical structure for your filter by selecting one column in the data source to represent the top level, and another column to represent the next level.

 Important   If you want to create a dashboard filter that works with individual dimension members in a report or a scorecard, you should create a dashboard filter that uses the Member Selection template instead of the Tabular Values filter template.

Create a Tabular Values filter

 Note   Before you begin, make sure that you have already created a dashboard, and that you are familiar with the tabular data source that you want to use for your filter.

1. 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 change is not listed, click the Server tab, and then double-click the dashboard to open it in your workspace.
2. In the center pane of the workspace, click the Filters tab. In the Filters section, click New Filter. The Select a Dashboard Filter Template dialog box opens.
3. Click Tabular Values, and then click OK. The Create a Filter wizard opens.
4. In the Name box, type a name for your filter, and then type any descriptive information about the filter in the Description box. Click Next.
5. In the Select a Data Source step of the wizard, select the tabular data source that you want to use. You can select one of the following tabular data sources:
   
   
   • Excel Services
   • Excel 2007 workbook
   • SharePoint list
   • SQL Server table
   
   If you do not see the data source listed, click Refresh to update the list. If you cannot find the data source, click Toggle View to see the available data sources arranged by their folder structure. Or, you can Create a data source.
   
   Click Next.
6. In the Preview Tabular Values step of the wizard, preview your data. You do this to prepare for the next step, which prompts you to choose your Key columns. Click Next.
7. In the Choose Key Columns step of the wizard, you specify the hierarchy and the default selection for your filter. Your filter can have two levels. You select one column as your Parent Key, which becomes your first-level hierarchy, and then you select another column as your Key column, which becomes your second-level hierarchy.

   Item	Description
   Key	Use the Key list to specify the column that contains the members that you want to designate as second-level members in the filter hierarchy.
   Parent Key	Use the Parent Key list to specify the column that contains the members that you want to designate as first-level members in the filter hierarchy.
   Display Value	Use the Display Value list to specify the column that contains the members that you want to designate as captions for your filter. Monitoring Server passes those captions to any scorecards and reports that are linked to the filter.
   Is default	Use the Is default list to specify a member that you want to designate as a preselected filter item in the dashboard (this is optional). Dashboard users can either keep the default filter item, or select a different item in the list when they use the filter.

8. After you select your key columns, click Next.
9. In the Choose Display Method step of the wizard, select a display type for your filter from the following options:

   Option	Description
   List	This filter appears as a simple list in a drop-down menu. When you use this display type, dashboard consumers click an item in the list to specify what information to display.
   Tree	This filter appears as a list that includes an expandable tree control in a drop-down menu. When you use this display type, dashboard consumers click to expand the tree control, and then they select an individual item or a group of items to apply as a filter.
   Multi-Select Tree	This filter appears as a list that includes an expandable tree control with check boxes in a drop-down menu. When you use this display type, dashboard consumers click to expand the tree control, and then they select the check boxes for the items that they want to use as a filter.

10. After you select your display method, click Finish. In the Confirmation screen, review the information in the Details pane to verify that your filter was successfully created. Then click Close to close the wizard.
11. Click the Home tab, and then click Publish Item to save your changes to Monitoring Server. You can now add your filter to the dashboard page and link it to reports and scorecards.

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