Create an Exploration View

Use Exploration Views to quickly change how you view performance measures, such as revenue or budgeted production costs.

Work with IBM Cognos Analytics data
You can explore IBM® Cognos® Analytics data with Exploration Views.
Work with relational Exploration Views
Relational data in Exploration Views has limitations and differences from dimensional data. One such instance is replacing measures on columns. Measures derived from relational data are stacked blocks. Replacement of the entire stacked block on the grid is not permitted. You would need to do this on the summary bar. This behavior is consistent with query items that are not measures. You may also notice that expand, collapse and totals do not work with relational data sources.
Work with items in an Exploration View
You can manipulate the way rows and columns appear in an Exploration View for more effective comparison.
Select measures
Each Exploration View based on DMR or OLAP packages must contain at least one measure. Only one measure can be dragged to the measure drop zone. If you select more than one measure by placing a measure in a row or column, the measure that is in the measure drop zone becomes the default measure.
Remove measures
To remove measures from an Exploration View that uses IBM Cognos Analytics data, you must have an active worksheet. After removing a measure from the Measure drop zone, you are able to add back a measure. In addition to the Measure drop zone, which can contain only a single measure, you can add multiple measures to other drop zones.
Insert a hierarchy
You can use a dynamic expression to insert a hierarchy in an Exploration View based on the structure of the metadata tree.
Add calculated rows and columns
Insert a calculation to make your Exploration View more meaningful by deriving additional information from the data source. For example, you create an invoice, and you want to see the total sales amount for each product ordered. Create a calculated column that multiplies the product price by the quantity ordered.
Filtering values using context
You can use one or more items to quickly focus your Exploration View on a particular view of the data. This technique is known as filtering using context.
Insert blank columns or rows
Insert a blank column or row into an Exploration View to create white space or to add cell-based calculations. You can use the new row or column to insert any Microsoft Excel calculation, such as AVG, MIN, or MAX.
Nest rows or columns
You can nest items in an Exploration View to compare information by using more than one item in a column or row. For example, an Exploration View shows the sales by product line for the past fiscal year. You can add an item to further break down the sales by order method. You can also nest rows in a list.
Suppress empty cells
Sparse data can result in Exploration Views showing empty cells. For example, an Exploration View that matches employees with products, results in many rows of empty values for the revenue measure if the employee does not sell those products. To remove sparse data in an Exploration View, you can suppress empty cells that contain a null or zero value.
Best practices
Exploration Views provide many automatic features so that you can focus on your main purpose, which is to analyze and explore your company data.

Parent topic: Exploration Views and lists