Creating Drill Anywhere reports

Drill Anywhere reports allow Report Readers to define their own drill path and freely move from one report to another. You can create a Drill Anywhere report to allow Report Readers to move from general to more detailed reports.

How it works

Drill Anywhere reports contain dimension fields with hyperlinked values that, when clicked, provide access to more detailed reports. Drill Anywhere reports are useful if the audience for your report is broad, and you want to allow your Report Readers to easily access the detailed reports that are relevant to them.

Each time a Report Reader clicks on a hyperlinked field value, they are provided with a list of dimension fields. Views define the logical hierarchy within the reports, including the field categories and dimension fields presented to the Report Reader. The dimension fields available in the list do not need to be included in the report.

The dimension fields present a variety of drill paths, and work like filters to allow Report Readers to further restrict the amount of data displayed. Null values in a dimension field are not hyperlinked, and cannot be used as drill paths.

Example

Accessing issues data that pertains to different projects

Scenario

You need to create a report that allows Report Readers to access issues data that pertains to different projects. Your audience for the report is broad, so you want to be able to provide each person the ability to access the detailed reports they need.

Process

First, you create a report and define the following fields in the report:

  • Project Name
  • Project Type
  • Project Start Date
  • Project End Date
  • Project Risk Assurance

Then, under Analysis Style, you define the report as Drill Anywhere, and save the report.

Result

Report Readers can access issues data that pertains to different projects. Some possible drill paths that your Report Readers can take include:

  • Project Name > Controls > Control Description
  • Project Name > Objectives > Objective Name

Permissions

Only Report Admins and Report Writers can create Drill Anywhere reports.

Define a Drill Anywhere report

  1. Open the Reports app.
  2. Complete one of the following actions:
    • Create a new report select Create > Report.

      For more information, see Create a new report.

    • Copy a report or report template click Browse, right-click the report or report template, and select Make a copy.

      For more information, see Copying reports and dashboards.

    • Open an existing report click Browse, and navigate to the appropriate report.
  3. From the Data tab in Report Builder, under Analysis Style, select Drill Anywhere.
  4. Optional. To display multiple reports within a single report, select Co-Display.

Format the report

Optional. If you selected Co-Display in addition to Drill Anywhere under Analysis Style, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the Design tab.
  2. In the formatting toolbar, click Co-Display Formatting.

    The Co-Display Formatting dialog box opens.

  3. Configure any of the Co-Display formatting options, and click to close the dialog box.

    For more information, see Formatting Co-Display reports.

Save the report

  1. Click the Publish tab.

    The Save Report dialog box opens.

  2. In the Details tab:
    1. Enter a name and description for the report.
    2. Define where the report will be stored by selecting the appropriate content folder and content sub folder.
    3. Optional. Click + Add tags to create tags that classify the report, or select any existing tags to associated with the report.
      Tip

      You can use tags to quickly filter reports on the Browse page.

    4. Specify the access level required for the report:
      • Public all users that have access to the content sub folder the report is stored in will have access to the report
      • Private allows you to define specific people and / or groups that can access the report

        The User Access tab displays, and allows you to define the people / groups that can access the report.

  3. In the Distribution tab, specify how the report can be distributed:
    • Broadcast allows you to broadcast the report to yourself or other people by email
    • Email allows you to distribute the report by email
    • Email & Broadcast Security if Broadcast or Email is selected, this option allows you to specify the level of access required for people to be able to receive the report by email
      • All Users all Reports users can receive the report via email
      • Unsecure the report can be sent to external stakeholders that do not have access to the Reports app
      • Validated Users all users with folder access to the dashboard tab can receive the report via email
      Note

      The Web Services option is currently not supported.

  4. In the Export tab, specify the settings for the export options:
    • Default use the default settings defined in the report configuration
    • On turn on the export option
    • Off turn off the export option
  5. In the Report Settings tab, specify if the report can be made visible on the Browse page, and if the report can be added to dashboards.
  6. Save the report as a draft or activate the report to make it available to other people:
    • Save > Activate saves the report and makes it available to users with the appropriate access

      Once you activate a report, you can email the report, and add the report to a dashboard or presentation.

      Note

      If User Access settings in the sub folder have been set to Expert approval required to publish, select Save > Request Approval.

    • Save > Draft saves the report and does not make it available to users assigned the Report Writer or Report Reader role