Waterfall Template

Introduction

Waterfall reports are used to analyze the variance between two periods or categories for an account. The variances are analyzed over a specific Dimension which is normally the entity dimension or an analytical dimension. The variances are sorted on their absolute values from the highest variance to the smallest variance.

CONTENT

Parameters

The Report Parameters define the look & feel and behavior of a report. On the screenshot below you can see the parameters numbers. These numbers refer to the parameters as displayed in the Basic Parameters and Advanced Parameters table. Next to Basic and Advanced Parameters there are also Generic Report Parameters

Basic Parameters

Parameter

Description

Mandatory

1. Item Selector

A list of items that will be used as a Pick List in the report. Each item can be a combination of members from the dimensions associated with the list. Usually, the Account dimension is used.

Yes

2. Reference Categories

A list of items that will be used as Reference Categories in the report. Each item can be a combination of members from the dimensions associated with the list (usually Category, Year and/or Period. Formulas are not allowed

Yes

3. Enable Breakdown Selection

This parameter specifies whether the end-user is able to select the breakdown dimension. If “Enable breakdown selection” is set to “Yes” then an additional breakdown selector should be shown to the end-user. The breakdown selector contains all possible breakdown dimensions for the current account.

Yes

Advanced Parameters

Parameter

Description

Mandatory

4. Default Selected Item

Indicates the Item from the List that will be selected / highlighted upon opening of the report. If none is selected, the 1st item will be selected.

No

5. Side Trend

List of items that determines the X-axis of the trend in the side-controls (usually associated with the Year and the Period dimension).

Yes

6. Label Base Category

Dynamic Label that can combine the description of dimension-members and free text. The member-description can be obtained by putting the 3-character dimension abbreviation between square brackets (e.g., [CAT] for the Category dimension). Note: When using free text, don't use the "[" or "]" characters as these are reserved for Dynamic Label Expressions.

Yes

7. Breakdown By

With this parameter you can select the dimension for which you want to see the descendants at the right-side or bottom of the report. In case of the Waterfall-chart it determines the nature of the movements or variance components. In case of the Ranking template it shows the ranking dimension.

Yes

8. Base / Direct

Select Base if you want to see the base-members (or leaf-members) under a certain parent-node (parent Entity, Product group, etc.). Choose Direct if you want to see the direct descendants (1st generation child-members).

Yes

9. Label Difference

In a Waterfall chart, the sum of the movements or variance components sometimes does not exactly explain the difference between the current period and a previous period or between Actual and Budget (e.g., due to Intercompany transactions). The remainder is put in an Other category. With this parameter we can label this Other category.

Yes

10. Zoomed View

Select Yes if you want to open the report in a zoomed view. A zoomed view is a view in which only the relevant part of the scale is shown, in order to increase the readability of the chart.

Yes

11. Default Selected Variance

Enter "Variance %" if you want to open a report with a variance percentage column. Enter "Variance" if you want absolute variance to be displayed by default.

Yes

12. Variance Threshold

Threshold value for the Variance (e.g., Actual vs. Budget). If the Variance is less than the 1st threshold value, then Red (indicating an unfavorable variance) is used. If the Variance is greater than the 2nd threshold value, then Green (favorable variance) is used. And if Variance is between the 2 threshold values, Orange (neutral variance) is used. Use, for example, -200;300 for absolute thresholds or -10%;20% for relative thresholds.

Yes

13. Maximum Items

Maximum number of movements shown. The remainder is cumulated in an "Other" category (see parameter "Label Difference").

Yes

14. Reference Category Position

Select the position of the Reference Category (e.g. "Budget")

Yes

See Also

Functional end-user description of template:Waterfall