Managing ad hoc data models

This section details the management of ad hoc data models in the Web Application. The available actions depend on the permissions applied to your profile.

The article covers actions such as:

• Viewing an ad hoc data model

• Searching for an ad hoc data model

• Creating an ad hoc data model

• Editing an ad hoc data model

Viewing an ad hoc data model

To view an existing Ad hoc data model, with its parameters and data source(s), proceed as follows:

1. Open the Reporting Models section in the "Admin" component .

2. Click the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the screen.

3. In the data model list, click the model you want to view (see Searching for an ad hoc data model).

The data model opens with its configured data sources, as illustrated in the following figure:

Ad hoc Data Model View

This is a tip message.

For better visibility, you can collapse the data sources panels using the arrow icon on the left of the data source name.

Searching for an ad hoc data model

To search for an existing Ad hoc data model, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Admin" component and click the Reporting Models section on the left menu.

2. Click the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the screen.

3. In the Filter field, type the name (or part of the name) of the data model you want to access.

The list is filtered on-the-fly and the result corresponding to your search is displayed, as illustrated in the following figure:

Ad hoc Data Model Search

Creating an ad hoc data model

You can create an Ad hoc data model and associate data sources to the model in order to use the new model as the basis for reports in the beqom application.

To create an Ad hoc data model, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Admin" component and click the Reporting Models section.

2. Click the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the page.

3. Click the Create Model button, located in the upper-right corner of the application window. The "Create a Data Model" contextual window is opened, as illustrated in the following figure:

Ad hoc Data model creation pop-up

4. Define the properties of the new data model:

   • Enter a name in the Name field

   • Enter a description in the Description field

   • Select a primary data source for the model in the Select Source drop-down list

   • Enter a display name for the source in the model in the Source Display Name in Model field

   • Select the columns from the data source that you want to use in the model

5. Click Create Model, in the lower-right corner of the window. The data model is created in the system.

Editing an ad hoc data model

Provided that you have the required permissions in the beqom application, you can edit Ad hoc data models as follows:

• You can add a secondary data source to a data model (see Adding a Secondary Data Source to an Ad Hoc Data Model)

• You can edit the parameters of a data source included in data model (see Editing a Data Source Included in an Ad Hoc Data Model and Removing a Column from an Ad Hoc Data Source Using the Quick Removal Feature)

• You can remove a data source (see Removing a Data Source from an Ad Hoc Data Model)

Adding a secondary data source to an ad hoc data model

At the time of the creation of a data model in the v10 Web Application interface, you need to select a primary data source that cannot be removed from the model. In addition to this primary data source, you can add one or several secondary sources to the data model in order to make more information available to the users who will consume the data model.

To add a secondary data source to Ad hoc data model, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Admin" component and click the Reporting Models section.

2. Open the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the screen.

3. Open the data model with which you want to work (see Searching for an ad hoc data model).

4. In the model configuration page, click the Add Source button, located at the right of the data source search field. The "Source from Table/View" contextual window is opened.

5. Define the parameters of the new data source:

   • Select the table/view that you want to use as a data source in the Select Source field

   • Enter a display name for the source in the Source Display Name in Model field

   • Select the columns of the table/view that you want to use in the data model

   • Define the type of join that you want to use in the Join Type field and the associated condition(s)

6. Click Save. The new data source is added to the data model.

Editing a data source Included in an ad hoc data model

To edit the parameters of a data source included in an Ad hoc data model, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Admin" component and click the Reporting Models section.

2. Access the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the page.

3. Open the data model that you want to edit (see Searching for an ad hoc data model).

4. In the list of data sources included in the data model, locate the data source that you want to edit (see Searching for an ad hoc data model).

5. Click the icon located at the far right of the row corresponding to the source. The "Source from Table/View" contextual window is opened.

6. Edit the parameters of the data source:

   • You can change the display name of the data source in the Source Display Name in Model field

   • You can change the columns from the data source used in the model by simply checking/unchecking the corresponding boxes

   • You can edit the join type (if any) and the related condition(s)

7. Click Save. The changes to the data source are saved in the data model.

This is a tip message.

There is a procedure to quickly remove columns from a data source in a data model. For more information, see Removing a column from an ad hoc data source using the quick removal feature.

Removing a Column from an Ad Hoc Data Source Using the Quick Removal Feature

While you can define the visibility of the columns of a data source when creating a data model and when editing the parameters of a data source (see Editing a data source included in an ad hoc data model), the v10 application also offers a convenient feature to quicly remove (i.e. hide) a column from a data source in a data model.

This is a warning message.

This procedure does not edit the table/view on which the data source is based. Removing a column using this procedure simply means that the column will no longer be used in the data model.

To do so, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Admin" component and click the Reporting Models section.

2. Click the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the page.

3. Open the data model in which you want to work (see Viewing an ad hoc data model).

4. In the list of data sources defined for the model, locate the source in which you want to remove columns.

5. Click the chevron icon, located at the left of the data source name. The list of columns in the data source is expanded, as illustrated in the following figure:

Expanded list of columns

6. Locate the column that you want to remove.

7. Click the icon, at the right of the column name. The column is removed from the data source and will no longer be useable in the data model.

This is a tip message.

To display again a removed column, follow the procedure described in Editing a data source included in an ad hoc data model.

Removing a data source from an ad hoc data model

As part of the edition of am Ad hoc data model, you can remove any secondary data source added to the model.

This is a warning message.

You cannot remove the primary data source defined at the time of creation of the data model.

To remove a data source from a data model, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Admin" component and access the Reporting Models section.

2. Click the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the page.

3. Open the data model in which you want to work (see Viewing an ad hoc data model).

4. In the list of data sources, locate the source that you want to remove (if required, you can use the search field).

5. Click the icon located at the right of the data source name, as illustrated in the following figure:

Data source removal

The data source is removed from the data model.

Deleting an ad hoc data model

To delete an Ad hoc data model from the system proceed as described below.

This is a warning message.

You cannot delete a data model that is used in a report.

1. Open the "Admin" component and access the Reporting Models section.

2. Click the Ad hoc tab at the top right of the screen.

3. Locate, in the list of existing data models, the model that you want to delete (see Searching for an Existing Data Model).

4. Hover your mouse cursor over the tile corresponding to the model. A deletion icon is displayed at the right of the data model name, as illustrated in the following figure:

Data model deletion

5. Click the icon. A confirmation message is displayed.

6. Click Delete. The model is deleted from the system.