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Oracle9iAS Discoverer Plus User's Guide
Version 9.0.2

Part Number A90879-02
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8
Using drilling

This chapter explains how to use Discoverer's drilling capabilities to answer typical business questions, and contains the following topics:

About drilling

Discoverer's drilling capability enables you to navigate worksheet data quickly and easily. Drilling works as follows:

When to drill

You can drill whenever you see a drill icon on a worksheet. Drill icons are right arrows that appear beside items.

In the example below, a year item has the value '2000'. The right arrow next to the value '2000' indicates that you can drill down into that year, typically to see data for months in that year.

Figure 8-2 Discoverer item with a drill icon


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When you click a drill icon, Discoverer displays a list of drill options and indicates the current drill level. In the example below, the current drill level is Calendar Quarter.

Figure 8-3 Discoverer drill options


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The display options for the detail drill items contain a Collapse option. This option removes the drill detail from the worksheet. In the example below, choosing Collapse removes drill detail.

Figure 8-4 Discoverer drill options with a Collapse option


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Note: Alternatively, to collapse drill detail, click the drill icon on the detail and drill up to a higher level.

About drilling into numeric data

When you drill into numeric data, the following rules apply:

About drill options

When using drilling, you use drill options (also known as a drill path) defined by the Discoverer manager. Drill options define what level of detail you can drill to when drilling up or down in worksheet data.

For example, to enable worksheet users to drill into time-based data, the Discoverer manager might define time-based drill options. In the example below, the drill options enable you to navigate from:

How to drill down

You drill down into worksheet data to see more detail. For example, you might:

To drill down into worksheet data:

  1. Click the drill icon next to the item for which you want to see more detail.

    A drop down menu is displayed showing drill options for that item and indicates the current drill level.

  2. From the drop down menu, select the level of detail that you want below the current drill level.

    Discoverer displays more detailed data on the worksheet.

How to drill up

You drill up to see worksheet data in less detail. For example, you might:

To drill up to see worksheet data in less detail:

  1. Click the drill icon next to the item for which you want to see less detail.

    A drop down menu is displayed showing drill options for that item and indicates the current drill level.

  2. From the drop down menu, select the level of detail that you want above the current drill level.

    Discoverer removes detail data from the worksheet.

    Note: Alternatively, to drill up, click the icon next to detail data and choose Collapse.

How to drill out

You drill out to see worksheet data displayed in another application. For example, you might:

To drill out:

  1. Click the item on the worksheet.

  2. When prompted by your Internet browser, choose either:

    • to open the file from its current location (the prompt is Internet browser specific)

    • to save the file to a local area - for example, a network drive

    If you choose to open the file, Discoverer starts up the associated application and displays the file.

Examples of drilling

Example 1: In this example, the Region drill icon is selected, then City is selected from the drill options to display city data for each region. If you select the drill icon next to one of the regions (Central, East, or West), you would only drill down on that region.

Figure 8-6 Drilling into a worksheet to display more detail


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Example 2: In this example, the drill icon next to the value 'Region' is selected to display the drill menu. Then, the Collapse option is selected to remove the city detail data (i.e. Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas) from the worksheet.

Figure 8-7 Drilling up to display less detail


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Example 3: You can drill down on the whole worksheet or selectively for particular areas of a worksheet. In this example, drilling on Year down to Quarter displays more detailed data for all Years (1998, 1999, and 2000).

Figure 8-8 Drilling into a whole worksheet


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Example 4: In this example, drilling on 2000 down to Quarter displays more detailed data for the year 2000, but not 1998 or 1999.

Figure 8-9 Drilling selectively into particular area


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Example 5: In this example, a text report is stored in the database. Clicking the document icon displays the report in an external application, such as Microsoft Word or a text editor.

Figure 8-10 Drilling out to see a text document


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