BIRT Designer for End Users

Features: Query and Analysis

The BIRT Designer for End Users provides business users the ability to query and analyze data. With this BIRT Designer, business users select the data they want to see in a report, apply calculations and aggregations to the data, and control how it is displayed, filtered, and sorted. The user of the BIRT Designer for End Users can access any data made available to them by the developer designing the template using one of the four developer-oriented BIRT Report Designers.

Data Access and Queries

The BIRT Designer for End Usersgives business users access to data they need, but within IT control.

• Pre-defined Queries - use data queries pre-defined in the report template accessing any data source supported by a BIRT Designer.
• Custom Queries - use queries plugged in via the custom query builder UI or a compliant ODA driver to a custom data access layer.
• Actuate Information Objects - access data via the optional metadata layer product that supports relational data sources from vendors such as Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Sybase; non-relational sources such as XML, flat files and custom sources; and also supports business users performing JOINS between multiple information objects.
• Synchronized data sets - refresh the design with the latest data source definition.

Calculations and Summaries

With the BIRT Designer for End Users, business users can define functions to be performed on data.

• Aggregates - summarizes the individual values in a column; for example, SUM and AVERAGE.
• Calculated columns - calculates columns based on a set of pre-defined functions.

Filters

The BIRT Designer for End Users provides several ways for business users to filter data out of a BIRT report.

• Simple Filters - applies a data condition to a single column; for example, list customers who are based in Chicago, New York or Seattle.
• Compound Filters - applies conditions to multiple columns; for example, list customers who are based in Chicago, New York or Seattle and have an account balance that is > $1 million.
• Top N/Bottom N - first sorts and then filters values to display the top N or bottom N values.
• Prompts (Parameters) - exposes filters as prompts for report users to specify a value that determines the data to be returned in a report.

Data Display Options

Business users can rearrange, hide and group report data.

• Bound data fields - displays data directly on the report.
• Hidden data fields - hides data but it still can be used for calculations, filtering or added to the report.
• Grouping - groups columns based on data values; for example, grouping order details by Order ID.
• Sections - displays groups as independent tables.
• Hide Details - hides detail columns from the user and report.
• Duplicate Suppress - suppresses the display of duplicate values within a column.
• Sort - sorts data using a single or multiple columns; for example, sort by country, then state and then city.

Features Overview