Create your own hierarchy in Cloud for Analytics

[IngoH]

In the first two parts (Part 1, Part 2) we created a model based on a Google Sheet and uploaded the data from the Google Sheet to Cloud for Analytics.

 

As the next step I wanted to see how simple it is to setup a hierarchy, change the hierarchy, and then use the hierarchy as part of the visualizations.

 

So first of all I re-opened my model that I created based on the Google Sheet.

 



 

I then selected the column for the product showing the actual data. You have to select the actual data for the hierarchy menu to become visible.

 



 

Then you can navigate to the right hand side and click on the "+" sign and there is the menu "Add Hierarchy.

 



 

I then received an additional column and I named the new column "Parent" and I was able to enter the parents and I simply did add the Parent IDs into the table as well without a parent (see above).

 

As soon as I saved the definition I was able to see the hierarchy on the right hand side in form of a tree control.

 



 

The nice part of the tree control is the fact that you can move items around in the tree without having to go back to the actual data. You can move items and the data in the table is updated accordingly.

 



 

After finishing the hierarchy as part of the model I also wanted to see how I could use the hierarchy as part of the visualizations, so I created a new story with an empty canvas and did add a bar chart to it.

 



 

By default the chart was showing the top level entries of my hierarchies and the leafs / children were hidden.

 



When selecting a particular element in the chart the context menu became available and the third icon from the left (tree with a arrow pointing downward) is the option to drill down to the next level in the hierarchy.

 



... and after the drill down you can select the element in the chart and as you can see the again changed and now the arrow points upwards for the Drill Up option.

 

 

What did I like ?

 

• It was very easy to setup a hierarchy, but on the other hand we are just using spreadsheets right now. the real proof comes with HANA and BW


• the Tree control isn't just a display but is also allowing me to make changes to the hierarchy

 

What am I missing ?

 

• I was using a hierarchy so I was expecting an option to decide how far I would like to expand the hierarchy in the visualization


• I was also expecting an option to choose between a drill down option or to see the complete hierarchy with nodes and leafs and children

 

 

Next time we will look at the option to connect to the HANA system.