Constant Selection 

Use

In the Query Designer, you use selections to determine the data you want to display at the report runtime. You can alter the selections at runtime using navigation and filters. This allows you to further restrict the selections.

The Constant Selection function allows you to mark a selection in the Query Designer as constant. This means that navigation and filtering have no effect on the selection at runtime. This allows you to easily select reference sizes that do not change at runtime.

Integration

You can use this function with selections in structural components, cells, and restricted key figures.

Features

You can define entire selections as constant for structural components and cells. During navigation, a constant selection is independent of all filters.

In addition, you can define components of selections, that is, individual characteristics and their filter values, as constant. During navigation, only the selection relating to this characteristic remains unaffected by filters.

You cannot select an entire restricted key figure as a constant, only its characteristics.

Activities

You can activate the Constant Selection setting for an entire selection in the Selection/Formula Properties/Cell dialog box.

You can select a characteristic of a selection as constant in the following way:

...

       1.      In the context menu of a selection, choose Edit. The Change Selection dialog box appears.

       2.      In the Selection Details area, in the context menu of the characteristic that you are using in the selection, choose Constant Selection.

Proceed in the same way to select the characteristics that you are using in a restricted key figure or in a selection of a cell as constant.

Examples

Market Index

In a product list (Product is in the drilldown), you want to display the sales revenue normalized for (that is, based on) a specific product group rather than the total sales revenue. Using the Constant Selection function, you can select the sales revenue of a specific product group as constant for the drilldown. You can now relate the sales revenue of the individual products in the product group to the sales revenue of the product group. This allows you to determine the revenue from each individual product as a proportion of the sales revenue for the product group.

For more information, see Example: Market Index.

Plan/Actual Problem

In the InfoCube, actual values exist for each period. Plan values only exist for the entire year. These are posted in period 12. To compare the PLAN and ACTUAL values, you have to define a PLAN and an ACTUAL column in the query, restrict PLAN to period 12, and mark this selection as a constant selection. This means that you always see the plan values, whichever period you are navigating in.

MultiProvider Problems

Furthermore, you can use the constant selection to solve MultiProvider problems.

●      The MultiProvider has two InfoCubes with data about the price and quantity of various products and the corresponding plants. InfoCube 2 also contains characteristic Customer. In a drilldown according to Customer, all data from InfoCube 1 is displayed under initial value # (not assigned).

You can now define a constant selection on Customer and exclude initial value # (not assigned) in the filter. This filters out the rows with initial value # (not assigned), but the data about key figure Price is retained.

For more information, see Example: Using Constant Selection with MultiProviders.

●      The MultiProvider has an InfoCube with the actual values and an InfoCube with the plan values. If the Calendar Month characteristic is in the plan InfoCube but not in the actual InfoCube, in a drilldown according to Calendar Month, all data is displayed under value # (not assigned).

You can now define a constant selection for Calendar Month = # (not assigned). In doing so, you select the yearly plan value as constant independently of the filter and it is displayed in each row, therefore for every month. You can now divide the yearly plan value by 12. Then you can make plan/actual comparisons on a monthly basis, although there are only yearly values in the plan InfoCube.