11.0 Data Analysis Notes



11.0 Data Analysis – Instructor Notes | |

|Course Overview |Analysis is the MyFloridaMarketPlace tool that gives users the power to base buying decisions on your own |

| |intelligent, self-customized analyses of data from other Ariba products. The goal of Ariba Analysis is to |

| |improve your ability to see spending patterns to identify opportunities to decrease costs. It is also a tool|

| |for examining purchasing processes themselves for possible areas of improvement to save money. |

|Course Length |4 hrs |

|MFMP Users |Purchasing Agents, Finance & Accounting |

|Course Objective |After training, participants will be able to: |

| |Create analytical reports |

| |Save and edit analytical reports |

| |Add reports and additional tabs to the Dashboard |

| |Edit analytical report and create computed fields |

| |Create Analysis folders |

| |Export Ad-Hoc reports to Excel and create CSV data files |

|Prerequisites |Basic computer skills |

| |Basic understanding of pivot tables |

| |Internet skills |

| |Knowledge of the FL procurement policies and procedures |

| |General knowledge of critical data and report design |

| |System Basics training course |

| |Functional knowledge of Microsoft Excel (recommended) |

|Key Talking Points |

|Lesson 11.1: Create Ad-Hoc Reports |Ariba Analysis has three ways to work with reports: |

| |Creating analytical reports with the Analysis Wizard: A guided process aids you in designing analytical |

| |reports. Pivot tables, the end product of the Analysis Wizard, are commonly used by the power user who is |

| |investigating deep aspects of an organization’s spend in complex data analysis. |

| |Running a parameterized report: You only have to select the exact data you want to see, because someone else|

| |has already determined the format of the analytical report for you. Parameterized reports are for the |

| |business user who wants to run common reports frequently and quickly. |

| |Designing a compound report: A guided process assists you in building a compound report, which is the |

| |composite of data from multiple spend objects into a single report. The content of a compound report comes |

| |from analytical or parameterized reports you have already created in Ariba Analysis. |

| | |

| |Accessing Ariba Analysis |

| |The Ariba Analysis tool can only be accessed through Ariba Buyer. Users which have been given the role |

| |‘Analysis Authorized’ will have an Analysis section displayed at the bottom of the shortcut menu. |

| |Once you have logged into Ariba Analysis, a new web browser window will be opened and a new session will be |

| |created. Your session will be terminated after 15 minutes of inactivity. If terminated, you will need to |

| |re-establish your connection to Ariba Analysis. |

| | |

| |Ariba Analysis Database |

| |Ariba Analysis works with a database independent of other Ariba products to ensure the utmost speed of all |

| |Ariba applications. Data from other products must be loaded into the Ariba Analysis database. As a result |

| |of the need to load data, your analytical reports will not be ‘real-time’. |

| | |

| |Using the Analysis Wizard |

| |The Analysis Wizard guides you through creating a pivot table, which is the basis of an analytical report. |

| |You also invoke the wizard when you want to edit a saved report. |

| |The purpose of the wizard is to help you create your report quickly. Keep in mind that you can still change |

| |your analytical report after you're finished with the wizard. That is, after you create the report, you can |

| |alter its appearance easily, drilling down into the data, moving data from one location on the pivot table |

| |to another, changing titles, and much more. |

| | |

| |Wizard Step 1: Select Source Data and Measures: There are several predefined spend objects (facts) available|

| |for investigations: |

| |Purchase Orders: commodity purchasing patterns |

| |Invoices: supplier billing patterns |

| |Requests: general term for requisitions |

| |Report title format: When entering a title for your report, it cannot be longer than 50 characters or |

| |contain any of the following special characters: |

| |backslash \ |

| |slash / |

| |semicolon : |

| |asterisk * |

| |question mark ? |

| |quotation mark “ |

| |less than < |

| |greater than > |

| |pipe | |

| | |

| |Wizard Step 2: Pivot Layout: You must select the hierarchies you want to include in your analytical report |

| |and put them in locations on the pivot table. You can choose any of the locations: |

| |Page field – as many hierarchies as desired may be added |

| |Row field – at most 2 hierarchies may be added |

| |Column field – at most 2 hierarchies may be added |

| |Wizard Step 3: Refine Data: In the final step of the wizard, you must refine the data you want to |

| |investigate. You can refine data in the following ways: |

| |Choose the date range you want (Calendar or Fiscal) |

| |Include or exclude partial units of time (year, quarter, or month) |

| |Constrain data for any of the selected hierarchies |

| | |

| |Troubleshooting an Analytical Report: If Ariba Analysis encounters difficulty with your analytical report, |

| |it directs you to the Analysis Wizard to edit or change your analytical report in such a way that it can be |

| |processed. Common troubleshooting tasks include: |

| |Long queries: Almost every operation in Ariba Analysis results in a query against its database. If the |

| |query times out (3 minutes), Ariba Analysis will ask you to alter the parameters of your analytical report |

| |such that the query can be executed. |

| |Large data returned: You might choose hierarchies that represent an amount of data so large that it exceeds |

| |the established thresholds. |

| |Pivot table maximum rows to display: 201 |

| |Pivot table maximum columns to display: 25 |

| |Inspect line item details maximum records: 1,000 |

|Lesson 11.2: Save Ad-Hoc Reports |You are prompted to save your analytical report if you exit the wizard without first saving the report. You|

| |are giving the two options when saving: |

| |Save: stores the analytical report with the title you specified in Step 1 and overwrites any other saved |

| |analytical reports with the same title |

| |Save As: allows you to make a copy of the analytical report under a different title and in a folder of your |

| |choosing |

| | |

| |You can click the Discard button to not save any changes made to your report. |

|Lesson 11.3: Dashboard Navigation |The dashboard is a single screen on which you can organize and access key tasks, actions, and information. |

| |Rather than switching between requests and reports, you can simply add the items to your dashboard. You can|

| |then monitor and access the items from one convenient location. |

| | |

| |You can add additional tabs to your dashboard by clicking the Customize button. |

| |When entering a title for your tab, it cannot be longer than 30 characters any may contain special |

| |characters. |

| |You will need to select the appropriate tab before adding the report to the dashboard. |

| |Reports may be added to your dashboard as the following: |

| |Pivot table |

| |Chart |

| |Folders |

| |After adding a report to your dashboard, you can refresh the data by: |

| |Launching the report |

| |Click the Force Refresh all content on this page |

|Lesson 11.4: Edit Ad-Hoc Reports |You can alter the data field view to show the measure in any of the following ways: |

| |Normal (a number) |

| |Percentage of Row: |

| |Percentage of Column: |

| |You can also change the number format to display the values as: |

| |Normal |

| |Currency |

| |Percentage |

| |If you decide to show numbers in currency format, you can select the currency symbol Ariba Analysis displays|

| |next to the amount, or None. |

| | |

| |Creating Computed Fields |

| |In Ariba Analysis you can define a calculation to create a measure not already available with a spend |

| |object. Such a calculation is called a computed field or a derived measure: the result of a calculation |

| |based on other measures. |

| |Only the measures related to the spend object you are investigating are available. For example, if you are |

| |investigating purchase orders, you cannot compute a new field based on data about invoices. |

|Lesson 11.5: Create Folders |You can organize your saved analytical reports folders you create, moving them from folder to folder, |

| |deleting and renaming folders, making copies and other functions. You can also share your analytical |

| |reports with other Ariba Analysis users. |

| | |

| |Ariba Analysis comes with two default folders: Favorites and Public. There are system folders and they |

| |cannot be deleted, renamed, or moved into other folders. Saved reports and other things you can add to the |

| |dashboard are called Folder Items. Ariba Analysis lists folder items at the top of the folders view, or you|

| |can store them in subfolders. |

| | |

| |Personal folders names cannot contain any of the following characters: |

| |backslash \ |

| |slash / |

| |semicolon : |

| |asterisk * |

| |question mark ? |

| |quotation mark “ |

| |less than < |

| |greater than > |

| |pipe | |

| | |

| | |

| |Sharing Reports with the Public Folder: Your public folder is a convenient way to allow other Ariba Analysis|

| |users to see and copy your analytical reports. To share an analytical report, move or copy it to your |

| |Public folder. |

| | |

| |You can view the public folders belonging to all Ariba Analysis users by clicking the hyperlink All Folders.|

| |In the Public folder, you can search to locate a particular user’s public folder name. |

|Lesson 11.6: Export Ad-Hoc Reports to Excel |You can export (download) the data from an analytical report to your computer for use with spreadsheet |

| |applications such as MS Excel. To export the data to MS Excel, you must use the IE Explorer 5.5 or higher. |

| |If you use some other browser, you can only export using the comma-separated values (CSV) format. |

| | |

| |Ariba Analysis uses ActiveX Scripting in your browser to send data to MS Excel on your computer. Before |

| |attempting to export data, configure your browser to allow the Ariba Analysis server to send data to your |

| |computer. |

| | |

| |There are two parts to configuring the Excel export: |

| |Selecting a format |

| |Selecting the data |

| | |

| |You can export data in two formats: |

| |Excel 2000 or Excel 2002 (MS Office XP): You must have Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, or 2002 installed on your |

| |computer to use this export format. Your Web browser contacts Excel on your computer to display the data you|

| |want to download. |

| |Comma-separated values (CSV): Select this radio button if you want a data file with Comma-separated Values |

| |(CSV) that can be read into older versions of Excel or some other application. The file includes one header |

| |row that defines the columns in the file, and the rows have cells delimited by commas. |

| |You can add the file extension .csv to the filename when Ariba Analysis prompts you for the location to save|

| |the file. This extension will allow you to double-click the file to launch Excel. |

| | |

| |Unless you have selected a template that uses fixed columns, you have two choices for the data fields you |

| |can export: Current pivot table contents or Custom. If the template you have selected for exporting |

| |contains fixed column, the exported data are defined by those fixed columns. You cannot alter the data |

| |during export. |

| | |

| |You can select how the data is exported: Aggregate Data or Line Details |

| |You have a choice about the kind of data you want to export: |

| |Aggregated Data measures are rolled-up such as amount, split, or count which you selected as the basis for |

| |your analytical report |

| |Line Details allows you to export information such as PO ID, PO line number, Split accounting number and |

| |description. |

| |Warning: Do not export line details or the lowest level of a hierarchy without some careful thought. You |

| |may be unknowingly selecting too much data to export. |

| | |

| |Exporting Computed Fields |

| |You cannot export computed fields from Ariba Analysis to Excel. The reason is that computed fields cannot |

| |be properly recalculated on export. Your data is exported without computed fields. If you want to recreate|

| |the computed fields, you should export all the fields on which you have based the computations and then in |

| |Excel recreate the formulas. |

| | |

| |After the export is complete, Ariba Analysis tells you how much data was actually exported by displaying the|

| |number of rows sent to your computer. Analysis saves the export settings you associate with an analytical |

| |report. |

| | |

| |Data Limitations in Exporting to Excel: You should be aware that MS Excel has limitations that can possibly |

| |affect the data you export to it: |

| |Ariba Analysis can export only 64K rows to Excel. Excel silently loses any rows exceeding this limit. |

| |Ariba Analysis imposes a limit of 250 characters per cell on the data it exports to Excel because any cells |

| |longer than that causes Excel to fail. |

| |If you are using a proxied MS Internet Information Server (IIS) running securely (with SSL or HTTPS), that |

| |server must use the default SSL port: port 443. Any other port causes Excel to fail to retrieve data from |

| |Ariba Analysis. |

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