Multi-Dimensional Reporting with PivotTables
Tutorial: Multi-Dimensional
Reporting with PivotTables
Product
Microsoft Excel
Focus
BI Multidimensional
Reporting
Author
Paul Hawking
Robert Jovanovic
(edits by Traci Hess)
Version
2.1
MOTIVATION
PREREQUISITES
You are a manger of Global Bike Incorporated
and one of your responsibilities is to make
decisions related to ordering, promotions,
customer discounts as well as monitoring and
managing the daily operations of the store. You
have a number of OLTP (Online Transaction
Processing) systems to assist with the day to day
transactions. Each month you are provided with
a report which displays each sale. The format of
the report is illustrated below.
None
Although this report provides a lot of
information, the information is not in a format
which can assist in the type of decisions you are
required to make. You have decided to
investigate PivotTables as means to producing
more useful reports. PivotTables (i.e., similar to
crosstab queries, etc.) are data summarization
tools found in data visualization programs such
as spreadsheets or business intelligence software,
and are frequently used in business for quick data
manipulation and analysis. A multi-dimensional
glossary is provided on the next page to support
the learning process.
.
© SAP UA
HINTS
No special hints
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
Multidimensional Glossary
Aggregate
Summarize data based on a field (SUM,
Maximum, Minimum, Average, etc.).
Reduces the number of rows displayed.
Dimension
Categories or non-numerical fields by
which data in a data warehouse are
structured for analysis.
Drill-down
Progressively display increasing levels of
detail
Drill-Through
Exposes more columns of a report.
Drill-up
Changing the view of the data to a higher
level of aggregation – less detail.
Fact/Key figure/Measure
Numeric value which reports are based
upon (sales $, # of units, output etc.).
Filter
Limit the output of a report based on a
value or range of values of fields within
the report
Granularity
Level of detailed displayed
Group
Combines records with identical values
into a single record. When you group
your records you are creating aggregated
data.
Pivot Table
Data summarization tools found in data
visualization programs such as
spreadsheets or business intelligence
software that are frequently used in
business for quick data manipulation and
analysis. Similar features are provided
by crosstabs or crosstab queries.
Slice and Dice
This refers to navigation whereby the
user views the data from different
business points of view (dimensions).
When one takes a slice or dice of the
data, one is filtering the data.
Sort
Organize your data in ascending or
descending order based on dimensions
or facts/key figures. Sorting does not
change the number of rows displayed.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
Multi-Dimensional Reporting with PivotTables
The primary purpose of an information system is to process information to produce reports
to facilitate decision making. Reports may appear in various formats and are used to support
a diverse range of organizational decisions. Reports provide a mechanism for organizing,
analyzing, presenting and delivering information to end users. A common classification of
reports is based on the types of systems which they are built from. On-Line Transaction
Processing (OLTP) systems as the name suggests are optimized for transaction processing.
They process real time information and are accessed by many users. The reports are derived
from the various business transactions and predominately support tactical decision making.
An alternative information system is On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP). This type of
processing allows users to analyze information by creating multidimensional reports. They
deal with large volumes of aggregated historical data. OLAP based reports are more flexible
than the more traditional reports produced by an OLTP system.
As mentioned previously OLTP reports provide information about particular transactions.
The type of reports an OLTP system produces could include:



Who purchased a particular product?
How much did an employee get paid?
How many of a product was manufactured?
The flexibility of OLAP reporting assists end users in understanding why particular business
events have occurred and or in forecasting what may occur in the future. The types of
questions an OLAP system can assist with could include:





What are the total sales for each product?
What are the total sales for each department?
Which salesperson has sold the most?
Which products does each salesperson sell the most of?
In which month did most of the sales occur?
OLAP systems and their ability for multi-dimensional reporting are considered an important
component of Business Intelligence. OLTP systems often provide the transactional data
which is used as an input for OLAP system’s multi-dimensional reports.
To gain a better understanding of multi-dimensional reporting and related concepts we will
complete some exercises below using Microsoft Excel’s PivotTable.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
Pivot Tables
An example of a multidimensional reporting tool is Microsoft Excel’s PivotTable function.
A PivotTable is a tool which assists users with summarising large amounts of data into
useful reports. The PivotTable’s flexibility enables you to re-arrange the table’s structure
(columns and rows) until you get the required information. The following exercises will
highlight the role of PivotTables in multi-dimensional reporting
1.
Save
Download Tut_PivotTable.xlsx from the class website.
2.
Open
the Tut_PivotTable.xlsx worksheet.
It should appear similar to the one below:
You will notice that there are more than 7,000 transactions (i.e., rows in the worksheet) and
in their present format it is difficult to identify trends. Think about how you would
determine which Material sold the most and which Sales Organization had the highest sales
for this Material?
3. Before we begin analyzing the data, copy the worksheet
with the data (Sheet1) using the menu option – Home | Cells:
Format | Organize Sheets: Move or Copy Sheet. Be sure to
check the box “Create a copy”, and then click OK. You
should then see a new sheet with the name “Sheet1 (2)”.
4, Rename this sheet “FilterSort” by double-clicking on the
sheet tab at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you could
right-click on the worksheet tab and select Move or Copy, or
Rename.
Filtering Data
5. Select your new worksheet (FilterSort) and click on one cell that
includes data. Select Insert | Table and the following dialog box
should appear. The full range of data should automatically be
selected (A1:H7449). Click OK.
6. Your data has now been formatted as a Table and includes drop-down arrows by each
column heading which will allow you to sort and filter your data.
This can be done alphabetically, numerically, or in aggregation. Currently the data is sorted
by Sales Organisation then by Material. If you want to see all the sales for a Material then
it needs to be sorted by Material.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
7. Click
next to Material to display the Sorting dialog box.
The Sorting dialog box is aware that the column selected is text (not numeric) and only
displays the options available to be performed on text.
8. Click
to sort Material ascending.
Your data has now been sorted. Notice that the drop-down arrow has changed
that the data has been sorted.
You can see the impact of the sorting by using the Undo
Quick Access Toolbar.
9. Click
to un-sort the data in the Table.
10. Click
to resort the data in the Table.
and Redo
, to indicate
buttons on the
You can also Filter the data based on data values. A Filter is different than the Sort function
as only data that meets the Filter criteria will be displayed (i.e., the number of rows displayed
is reduced). While with Sort all data is displayed. Currently Materials can be sold through
two different Distribution Channels, either by the Internet (IN) or by Wholesale (WH). You
could use the Filter function to display only Internet sales.
11. Click
next to Distribution Channel to display the Sorting dialog box.
You will notice that currently that all values are selected in the Text Filters area. You only
want IN (Internet) selected.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
12.
Click
13.
Click
14.
Click
to de-select all values.
to select this value.
to complete the process.
If you scroll through your data you will notice that only Internet sales appear.
Notice that the drop-down arrow has changed
to indicated that a Filter is applied. As
mentioned you can remove a Filter by clicking the Undo button
on the Quick Access
Toolbar. You can also remove it by clicking the drop-down arrow on the field that the
Filter has been applied.
16.
Click
to display the dialog box.
Tip If you place your mouse over the Filter icon the current Filter criteria will be
displayed
17.
Click
to remove the Filter.
All the data appears on screen.
You can also apply Filters to numbers. For example, if you want to only display sold
Quantities greater than 90,
18.
Click
19.
Click
next to Quantity to display the Sorting dialog box.
to display the numerical filters.
The sub-menu gives you an indication as to the type of numerical filters that can be applied
to your data. Some of the filters require you to enter the values that the data will be filtered
on.
20.
Click
to create a Filter on Quantity Greater Than 90.
A dialog box appears:
21.
Type 90 in the text box.
Instead of typing the value in the text box, you could have clicked the drop-down arrow
to display the values from your Table, and then selected one.
22.
Click
to complete the process.
Your screen should appear as follows:
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
Notice that the drop-down arrow has changed
to indicate that a Filter has been applied.
As mentioned you can remove a Filter by clicking the Undo button
on the Quick
Access Toolbar. You can also remove it by clicking the drop-down arrow on the field that
the Filter has been applied.
23.
Click
to remove the Filter.
All the data appears on screen. Make sure that you have removed all filters!
Try and answer the following questions from the data.
 Which Material sold the most in terms of Quantity? ______________
 How many 7 Gear bikes were sold in June 2007? _______________
Before we move on and create a PivotTable, Select the Data tab (menu option in Excel).
Let your mouse hover over some of the features provided in this ribbon menu (e.g.,
Remove Duplicates, Text to Columns, Data Validation). Now, select any cell in the table,
and go back to the Design tab.
Creating a PivotTable
Previously you formatted your data as a Table. By applying this format to the data you are
provided with extra functionality through the Table Design Ribbon.
24.
Click the
tab to display the Table Design Ribbon.
To create a PivotTable:
24.
Click
in the Tools Group.
A dialog box appears to confirm the selection for the PivotTable. You will notice that
there is a flashing border around your Table.
26.
Click
to complete the process.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
A new worksheet appears on screen. On the right of the screen is a
PivotTable Design Area. Also a PivotTable Ribbon appears
across the top of the screen.
The PivotTable Design Area lists all the column headings (fields)
of your Table.
The bottom area allows you to drag the column headings to design
your new PivotTable.
To understand PivotTables better you are now going to create a
PivotTable that indicates the Total sales Quantity for each Sales
Organisation
27.
Click
next to the Sales Organisation field in the
PivotTable Filed List to select it.
Notice that Sales Organisation appears in the Row Labels design area.
Notice that the Sales Organisations appear on the worksheet.
You now want to include the total Quantity for each Sales Organisation.
28. Click
next to Quantity to select this field.
Notice that the field appears on the worksheet and is automatically placed in the
area. Excel has determined that this field is numerical and is suggesting that that it should
be aggregated by summing the values. Important numerical values that form the basis of
analysis in multi-dimensional reports are often referred to as key figures, measures, or
facts.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
Your worksheet now lists all the sales organizations and the
total quantity sold in each organization.
However, you would like to see the Quantity for each
Material, by Sales Organization.
29. Click
next to Material to select this field.
The Material field now also appears in the Row Labels design area and the Materials are
listed with each Sales Organisation.
This is an example of multi-dimensional reporting using the Sales Organisation, Material
and Quantity dimensions. The next exercise will further demonstrate the flexibility of this
type of reporting.
This has been helpful in terms of the sales Quantity for each Sales Organisation and
Materials within this organization (i.e., which materials are sold the most in each sales
organization). But maybe a more valuable report would be which Materials sold the most
Quantity in which Sales Organisations (i.e., for each material, which sales organization
sells the most in terms of quantity). In other words we want to change how the data is
grouped (i.e., aggregated).
30. In the PivotTable Design Area, in the Rows area, Click
Material in the to display the context menu.
next to
31. Click Move Up to select this command.
The Material field now appears above the Sales
Organisation field. Notice how this impacts on your
report. The Quantity total for each Sales Organisation is
grouped under each Material and a grand total (190936)
of all Materials has been calculated at the bottom of the
PivotTable.
If you wanted to see the simple totals by material, you could just uncheck the
Sales Organization field. Each Material is listed with its Total Sales Quantity.
 Which Material sold the most in terms of Quantity? ______________
Reports should include a time dimension to indicate the period when the transactions
occurred. The report currently provides you with sales Quantity, but you don’t know over
what duration this occurred. This can be quickly remedied by adding the Month/Year
dimension.
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
33. Click
next to Month/Year to select this field and add it to your
report. Depending upon your version of Excel, you may need to
modify the fields in the Rows area of the PivotTable Design
Area in order to see quantity sold by month and year. If you see
the Quarters field in the Rows area, click on the downward arrow
next to it and select Remove Field. You may also need to expand
the year, as shown to the right, in order to see the months (click on
the plus sign next to the year).
 How many 7 Gear bikes were sold in June 2007?
You now have a report that lists the sales Quantity for each Month/Year for each Material.
Think how difficult it was to answer these questions previously when not using a PivotTable.
Navigating Multidimensional Reports
You have had a quick demonstration of the flexibility of multi-dimensional reporting using
PivotTables. There are a number of common terms used in Business Intelligence which
describe how you navigate in this type of reporting. First, add another dimension.
34. Click
next to Sales Organisation to select this field and add it to the PivotTable.
Drill-Up
Now that we have added Sales Organization back to the PivotTable, we
have many rows of data to navigate. We could Drill-Up to reduce the
number of rows, i.e., the detail. This is where the user moves through the
dimensions from a detailed view to a more summarized view (less detail).
For example. In the screen print to the right, we could drill up and show
less detail about the quantity of the 7Gear bike sold in Berlin.
35. Click
next to 7 Gear.
The details of the Sales Organisations and Date for the Material (7 Gear)
are no longer displayed. However, the total sales Quantity is still visible.
Notice that has changed to
indicating that there is further data which
can be displayed.
36. Practice Drill-Up on different Materials and Month/Year.
Drill-Down
This is the opposite of Drill-Up. A user can navigate through the
dimensions to display more detailed data.
37. Click
next to 2007 belonging to 7 Gear for Berlin.
The quantity sold by Month for each Sales Organisation for that Material
appears.
38. Practice Drill-Down on different Materials and Month/Years.
Note: You can Drill-Up or Down-Down by clicking the relevant dimension.
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A common dimension used for Drilling-Up and Drilling-Down is Time. For example if
the data included the year’s sales then you could navigate by Year, Quarter Month, Week,
and or Day. Most multi-dimensional reports have a Time component. The level of detail
which is displayed is referred to as granularity.
Slice and Dice
This refers to navigation whereby the user views the data from different business points of
view (dimensions). For example the diagram below illustrates Slice and Dice navigation.
A multi-dimensional structure has been designed to enable a user to report on Material
sales by Distribution Channel and Sales Organisation. This would display all records.
It is possible to navigate through the structure to view a subset of the data. For example a
report which displays all sales for a particular Material (M2) in all Sales Organisations
and Distribution Channels, only shows a subset or slice of the data as shown below.
M2
Alternatively a user could Slice the data to view all Materials sold via all Distribution
Channels for a particular Sales Organization (a horizontal slice – not shown).
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MULTI-DIMENSIONAL REPORTING WITH PIVOTTABLES
Through Dicing more granularity can be achieved. For example:
You will now create another PivotTable to see Slice and Dice in action. First, you need to
remove the current PivotTable.
39.
De-select
for the selected fields in the
design area to remove the PivotTable.
40.
Click
next to Material, Distribution
Channel, Sales Organisation, and Quantity to
select these fields.
Your PivotTable should appear similar
to the one on the right. If not, look at
the hint on the next page.
Currently all records are displayed. To
limit the view to a particular Material
(Cruze Bike):
41.
Click
next to Material (or
Row Labels) in the PivotTable
to display a context menu.
42.
Click
next to (Select All) to
de-select the current selections.
43.
Click
next to Cruze Bike to
select this Material.
44.
Click
to complete the process.
Your PivotTable has now been Sliced to only display the results for the Cruze Bike
Material. You can further Slice the data to show only the Sales Quantity for a particular
Distribution Channel (Wholesale) in a Sales Organisation (Sydney).
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HINT: If your pivot table does not look like the one above and instead looks
like the one to the right. Here are the steps you would take to fix it.

In the Rows area (bottom right corner of the screen, click on
Material, then select Field Settings. In the Field Settings window,
select the “Layout & Print” tab, then uncheck the box “Display
labels from the next field in the same column (compact form)” and
uncheck the box “Display subtotals at the top of each group”. These
steps will place the Distribution Channel values in the next column.
Now you need to do the same with the Sales Organization values.

In the Rows area (bottom right corner of the screen, click on
Distribution Channel, then select Field Settings. In the Field
Settings window, select the “Layout & Print” tab, then uncheck the
box “Display labels from the next field in the same column (compact
form)” and uncheck the box “Display subtotals at the top of each
group”. These steps will place the Sales Organization values in the
next column.
Now, continue with the steps above…
45.
Right-Click on WH to display the context menu.
46.
Click Filter then Keep Only Selected Items to filter on this Distribution Channel.
(alternatively you could select the Distribution Channel label, unselect Select All,
and then select WH.
Your PivotTable has been adjusted accordingly. Notice that the design area indicates that
Filters have been applied to Material and Distribution Channel.
To remove these Filters:
47.
Click
next to Distribution Channel in the PivotTable Field List to display the
context menu.
48.
Click
49.
Click
50.
Click
next to Material in the Design Area to display the context menu.
51.
Click
next to (Select All) to display all Materials.
52.
Click
to complete the process
next to (Select All) to display all Distribution Channels.
to complete the process
You have now completed the tutorial on PivotTables. PivotTables can be a very powerful
tool with an extensive range of functionality. The above exercises were designed to
introduce you to the concept of multi-dimensional reporting and its associated terminology.
You should now be aware of what advantages it provides compared to the more traditional
OLTP reporting. However there are some shortcomings, especially handling large data
volumes (millions of records). When the data comes from different systems and is in
different formats, there is a lot of work required before it can be manipulated in a
PivotTable. For example, if sales revenue was in different currencies, calculations and
comparisons would be very difficult. A data warehouse and integrated tools with features
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similar to PivotTables (e.g., SAP Business Objects Analysis Add-In for Excel) overcomes
many of these issues.
Below are three additional exercises to help develop your skills and understanding of
multi-dimensional reporting and PivotTables. Create reports to answer the following
questions.
a)
Which material provided the most revenue in Sydney?
b)
What is the total sales revenue for Germany (there are three German cities)?
c)
What is the total wholesale quantity?
Sorting Tip:
In the example to the right, the PivotTable is sorted by Sales
Organization. If you wanted to sort by quantity instead and display the
Sales Organizations in order by increasing Sales Quantity, follow the
steps below.



Click on arrow by Row Labels, then select “More Sort
Options.”
In the Sort screen (as shown below), select Ascending and
then select “Sum of Quantity” from the drop down box.
Click OK. Your PivotTable will now be sorted by Quantity.
Tutorial Solutions
a) MB-0012 AC DS 1
b) $51,292,586.46
c) 81,683
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