Hi Kirk, OK, think I might have a clearer picture of your problem now. To put another way, you *WOULD* model the data the way I suggested but for the fact that your data source does not supply certain of those values (for example, YEAR and QUARTER). Do I have that right? Assuming I do, I would suggest that you pre-process the data before it gets to Exhibit such that it does indeed include those values. As you point out, you know implicitly what those values are. Obviously, once you've done that, you have answered your own question of how to filter on "time components". If you outline the existing process to generate the data, I (or others) might be able to offer suggestions on the specifics of adding the pre-process steps. (From what I can tell, you run a series of reports. From what system? In what format is the output? Where does it go from there? How do you feed it to Exhibit? And so on.)
Again hoping this moves you forward, -Mark On Aug 25, 8:02 pm, Kirk <[email protected]> wrote: > Also, in case I am not being clear, my unique identifier (label) is > the company. Should I perhaps be thinking of using a couple of data > files and somehow using the combination of the two for my exhibit? > > -Kirk > > On Aug 25, 5:58 pm, Kirk <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Mark, > > Thank you for your response. I have built several exhibits in the > > past and was always able to organize my data as you suggest. What I > > am struggling with here is that my data points are in essence the same > > each quarter, exactly as you have listed in your response. Quarter > > and Year are not separate data points at all , but actually integral > > (unspoken, if you will) parts of what make each measure unique. Take > > Revenue Amt for instance, I currently have 8 values for it - 1 for > > each of the past 8 fiscal quarter. When I run my reports I get a > > revenue number and I know that this is for FY 08 Q1 only because I > > input those parms when running the report. Which gets me back to my > > problem, how do I name my columns (properties) so that the implied, > > but not explicitly captured, time components can be filtered on in > > facets? Concretely, if I filter on Q1 how do I just return the Revenue > > Amt values that represent Q1-08 and Q1-09? Add in all my other > > measure and it complicates this even more. > > Again,, thank you for taking the time to respond and forgive me if I > > am being dense. It is just that my measures have the exact same name > > each time and I just "know" what time period they came from. > > Best, > > Kirk > > > On Aug 25, 4:50 pm, mleden <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hi Kirk, > > > > Can provide you with some general rules-of-thumb based on my > > > experience. They actually apply irrespective of the technology, but > > > from what I can tell with Exhibit, they also hold true with the SIMILE > > > framework. > > > > 1. Always decompose your data to its most atomic form. In your case, > > > I would avoid the temptation to concatenate individual data. If I > > > understand your requirements correctly, you'd end up with the > > > following set of "columns": > > > CUSTOMER > > > YEAR > > > QUARTER > > > REVENUE AMOUNT > > > REVENUE RANK > > > GROSS PROFIT AMOUNT > > > GROSS PROFIT RANK > > > etc > > > (The two "RANK" columns are questionable, since I presume that you can > > > derive the ranking based on the value, but I leave that to you.) > > > 2. When performance of the application becomes an issue -- and it's > > > not a question of if but when -- you will need to "tailor" the dataset > > > accordingly. For example, you could subset so that Exhibit only has > > > to deal with the last 10 years. Having the source data in a database > > > makes this a snap, but no matter what there are invariably ways to do > > > this without impacting the application's functionality. > > > > HTH, > > > -Mark > > > > On Aug 25, 11:19 am, Kirk <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Hi,My apologies in advance for the length of the question - I couldn't > > > > figure out how to make it shorter. > > > > > I am trying to create an exhibit of customer data for "higher-ups". I > > > > have 8 > > > > quarters of data so far, and will be appending more with each passing > > > > quarter. The overall population of customers numbers 400-550, with > > > > around > > > > 200 of those buying product each and every quarter. > > > > Each quarter's data is initially captured in excel and, beyond the > > > > customers, consists of revenue and gp (gross profit) dollar amount > > > > columns > > > > and an ordinal ranking for that customer for each of the two > > > > measures. It > > > > is a requirement to be able to compare year over year (like quarter) > > > > changes > > > > in some, if not all, of the measures. I can either do that as formula > > > > columns in my spreadsheet or as functions in my exhibit( thoughts?). > > > > As you > > > > can see I will basically have the same "properties" for each quarter: > > > > rev$; > > > > gp$; rev rank; gp rank; and then any formula columns I may use. > > > > So, my question is, what is the best way to handle this? If I add the > > > > values > > > > as individual columns, I am concerned my dataset may eventually get > > > > too > > > > large. If, for each quarter, I add a column (property) like "Q4-09" > > > > with a > > > > value for each customer like "1 - 22,000,000 - 3 - 1,750,000" (rank - > > > > rev > > > > amount - rank - gp amount), how will the user "massage" the data? i.e. > > > > compare, say Q4-08 to Q4-09. > > > > Again, sorry for being so verbose, and sorry if I have been unclear. I > > > > work > > > > at a company that is rather backward when it comes to web technologies > > > > and > > > > would like to demonstrate the usefulness of the semantic web and the > > > > tools > > > > available. As you can see my conundrum is the similarity of each > > > > quarter's > > > > data. > > > > Thank you in advance for any and all help you may offer. > > > > Best Regards, > > > > Kirk --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SIMILE Widgets" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/simile-widgets?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
