Manage inserted measures & columns

Measures and columns inserted in the visual such as calculations or data input columns can be managed using the Manage Measures option.

1. Measures and columns

Similar to the Manage Rows option, the Manage Measures option displays a list of inserted columns/measures with options to edit, delete, or hide them. All the measures created in a visual can be viewed in the Measures tab. Visual columns can be viewed and managed in the Columns tab.

In addition, there is also an 'Insert New' option which lets you insert calculated columns or data input columns right from this panel.

Managing inserted columns

Use the duplicate icon to quickly replicate formulas that need to be reapplied in similar calculations.

Duplicate formula

2. Settings

The Manage Measures side panel has a Settings tab that lets you control and configure important settings concerning the rows and measures, such as user permissions, time interval mapping, row dimension ID mapping, etc.

Settings pane

2.1. Data input access

Inforiver Writeback Matrix allows setting explicit read/write access for specific users on data input and forecast columns.

To set it, click Insert -> Manage Measures -> Settings -> Manage in the Data Input Access. You can add the required users in the pop-up window.

Data Input Access

Access control for all the columns can also be set through the Manage Columns dropdown as explained here. Specifically for the forecast columns, the user access can be configured here.

2.2. Time interval mapping

When you have a date hierarchy in your rows/columns, you can use the time interval mapping to verify the formats that Inforiver auto-detects. Hover over theicon to view all the supported date formats.

Supported date formats

You can also choose whether to use Power BI sorting or Inforiver sorting. When the Sort toggle is enabled, any sorting changes made at Power BI level will not be reflected in the visual. In the example, notice how the Power BI sorting is not applied on the Quarter when the Sort toggle is enabled.

Sort precedence

2.3. Dimension ID mapping

Inforiver automatically assigns a dimension ID to each row dimension to uniquely identify them. This mapping helps to track and manage them, especially during operations like writeback. Visual components such as formatting, notes, comments, and data inputs added to the rows are also linked to the dimension IDs.

When row dimensions are renamed/changed, we might lose these visual elements added. To avoid this, Inforiver allows us to map the row dimensions to a constant dimension ID.

In the example below, we’ve applied formatting, added notes, and comments, and added data inputs to the products, Juices and Tea & Coffee.

Sample report with formatting, comments and data input columns

The visual elements were lost after the product names were renamed to Fruit Juices and Chai & Coffee respectively.

When the row dimension 'Product Name' is renamed

To avoid this, let us map the dimension IDs to a constant dimension, such as the Product ID instead of the Product Name. To do so, navigate to Insert -> Manage Measures -> Settings -> Row ID mapping -> Manage.

Manage Row ID Mapping

In Writeback Matrix, the Row ID Mapping option is referred to as Dimension ID Mapping.

The image below shows the default row dimension ID mapping.

Default row ID mapping

Let us map the 'Product Name' to the constant dimension, 'Product ID' as shown below. Click Apply.

row dimesion ID mapped manually

Note that changing the mapping removes all the initial formatting and visual elements associated with it.

Any formatting, notes, comments, and data inputs added after mapping with the constant dimension ID are retained as shown below, including during the writeback.

After manually mapping row ID dimensions

Updates due to skipped row ID dimensions reflected in writeback data

After mapping the row IDs to a constant dimension, not only the visual formatting, data changes, notes, comments, etc., are retained in the report but also captured in the writeback data promptly.

The report below shows the default mapping, followed by the results of the writeback data.

Writeback data before the change

After manually mapping the row dimension to a constant ID like the Product ID, any changes made in the report are also effectively captured in the writeback. In the image below, you can see the updated records in the report that are also reflected in the writeback data.

Writeback data after row ID mapping and data changes

2.4. Schedule backup for measure

You can retain point-in-time measure values with the new scheduled backup feature. The measure values are captured as separate read-only visual columns within the same visual. With this feature, you can easily calculate historical variances and analyze fluctuations in your numbers.

This is option is only available in Writeback Matrix.

Navigate to Manage Measures > Settings > Schedule Backups for Measure to create monthly, weekly, or daily schedules.

Creating a measure backup schedule

• Start and End date: Specify the time frame during which the measure should be backed up.

• Schedule Time: The time and timezone at which the backup job should be triggered.

• Frequency: Opt for daily/weekly/monthly schedules.

• For daily backups, you can specify the number of backups to create. For weekly schedules, you can select the day of the week to take a backup. For monthly schedules, you can specify which day of the month to take a backup on and additionally opt to take a backup on the last day of the month as well.

Daily schedule

Weekly schedule

Monthly schedule

• Measures: Select the measures that need to be backed up.

• Backup name: Enter the name of the backup field.

You can run ad-hoc backups by clicking the Run now icon.

Ad hoc backups

Measure backups will work only after the report is saved in Power BI. The report should also be created in a common workspace.

The image below shows a report with backed-up measures:

Measure backups

Measure backup jobs have dedicated logs that show the status of the backup, milestones, and the backups that are deleted when the limit is reached. Click the View jobs option from the Schedule Measure Backup side pane.

View jobs

Scheduled measure backup logs:

Scheduled measure bkp logs

2.5. Show all periods from Infobridge

Infobridge supports forecasts and allows you to capture projections or data for future time periods. Your target reports, however, may not require future data. The Show All Periods from Infobridge option in the Manage Measures side pane can be used to control whether time periods that do not exist in the target visual should be imported from Infobridge:

• When the toggle is enabled, all the time periods available in the bridge will be imported into the target report, irrespective of whether they exist in the target visual.

• When disabled, only the time periods in the bridge that exist in the target visual will be imported.

This option will be enabled only after creating an integration to a bridge

This is option is only available in Writeback Matrix.

Show All Periods from Infobridge option

In the bridge, we have the allocated budgets for 2023 and 2024 as well as the projected budgets for 2025.

Projected and allocated budgets in the bridge

The target report contains the profits for 2023 and 2024. We need to integrate the budgets for 2023 and 2024 with this report. The projected budgets for 2025 are not required in this case.

Profits in the target visual

Since we've disabled the Show All Periods from Infobridge toggle, when we insert the budget from the bridge, it will be inserted only for the time periods that exist in the target report.

Inserting budgets for existing time periods