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Limit number of years/quarters/months visible in a filter

Overview

Filtering data in a dashboard can streamline the analysis process by reducing the need to sift through a large dataset. Limiting the data available with a filter can enhance the user experience.

In Birst, there are 2 ways of limiting the number of time categories available in a filter. This tutorial walks you through both of them.

Components

Analytics

Requirements

  • Birst Admin access (for Space Properties)
  • Edit Dashboard right (for dashboard filter editing)
  • If you are using an Infor Cloudsuite, you can find the corresponding IFS roles in the CloudSuite Analytics documentation. For example, in M3 Analytics you need the ‘M3A Administration‘ role for Admin and Visualizer access.

Tutorial

Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Completion Time: 5 minutes for each option

1. Min/Max Years in Space Properties

As a Space Admin, you can set a minimum year and a maximum year for filters that use the built-in Time attributes and time series measures in the space.

The default values are -1 and -1, translating into a default span of 150 years from 1900 to 2050. 

Best Practice: Change these values to match the time frame of your reporting requirements for the space. Restricting the time frame makes your reports more efficient and easier to develop. For example, if the source data for the space goes back only to the year 2000, you could set the minimum year to 2000, and you won’t see previous years in the Time filters on a report.

  • Go to Space Management, then Space Properties and the Advanced Tab
  • You will find the Min/Max Years about halfway down the page
  • Change the Settings. They will be automatically saved.

2. Editing the Dashboard Filter

If you have the Edit Dashboard right, you can create filters for the dashboard. For Time categories, you can use the following types of filters:

  • Checkbox
  • Radio button
  • Slider
  • Calendar

Checkbox and radio button filters are populated either with a query or a custom list.

You can edit the query to include only the time categories required for the dashboard. This can also be made to work dynamically using variables like {Current Year} defined in Space Management/Manage Variables. See the online Help for Managing Variables.

Current Year Variable in Admin

Note: This method can also be used to limit other data types in a filter.

An example on how to edit the Filter query can be found here:

If you want to include categories like Current Year and Prior Year in the filter then the Custom list is an awesome option. You have to list all the categories you want to have in the filter, and the values in the Value column have to be found in the data in your space/model.

Custom categories in a Checkbox filter

The Slider filter lets you choose the upper and lower limits in Custom Range. You can also limit the categories available with the Query.

Slider filter with Custom range of years.

The Calendar filter type lets you set default values including start and end values using Variables.

Calendar type filter, using the ‘between’ operator.
Variables as the default start and end values

Resources

Dashboard Filters

Min/Max Years in Space Properties

Managing Variables

Basic Dashboard Filtering in the Birst How-To Series on YouTube

Advanced Dashboard Filtering in the Birst How-To Series on YouTube