Glossary

axis

One of the three directions of a sheet. Items that you choose for a query appear in the axes. See: top axis, side axis, page axis, axis item.

axis item

An item appearing in either the top axis, side axis, or page axis of a sheet. In a table, items can appear only in the top axis or page axis; in a crosstab, items can appear in any axis. See: axis, data item.

business area

A set of related information with a common business purpose, organized into folders. Defined in the End User Layer using Discoverer Administrator. See: End User Layer, folder.

calculation

A mathematical formula performed on one or more items. Discoverer Desktop enables you to build complex calculations.

collapse

To remove all levels of related items from below a selected item. In effect, to undo a drill-down. See: drill down.

conceptually identical object

Conceptually Identical Objects are elements in different EULs that refer to the same business objects, (e.g, folders, item-classes, hierarchies). When identifying Conceptually Identical Objects, Discoverer Desktop uses either Headings or Identifiers to match elements.

condition

Criteria for filtering data displayed in a sheet. Discoverer Desktop enables you to combine several conditions.

crosstab

A sheet layout that arranges items in a matrix of rows and columns. Items appear in both the top and side axes. Use a crosstab to display summary information and show how one item relates to another, such as sales by region by month. A crosstab is sometimes called a matrix. See: table.

database

A collection of related data organized for quick access.

data item

The item expressing the relationship between a top axis item and a side axis item. Only items which have a data item in common can appear opposite each other in the top and side axes. Applies only to crosstab-layout sheets. A data item is sometimes called a measure. See: axis item, datapoint.

datapoint

The value of a data item, as displayed in a cell of a sheet. A datapoint reflects the relationship between intersecting axis items in a crosstab. See: data item.

drill

To expand an item to include items related to it. Discoverer Desktop may re-query the database. See: drill down, drill up.

drill down

To expand an item to include related items lower than it in the hierarchy. Discoverer Desktop may re-query the database. See: drill, drill up, collapse.

drill up

To expand an item to include the next related item above it in the hierarchy. Discoverer Desktop may re-query the database. See: drill, drill down, collapse.

End User Layer™

A layer of information that Discoverer Desktop uses to hide the complexities and details of the underlying database. The End User Layer makes it easier and faster to create queries because it organizes the data to reflect particular business areas. The same data can also be used for more than one business situation. The End User Layer is defined using Discoverer Administrator. See: database, business area.

exception

Formatting that highlights data meeting certain criteria you define. For example, you can highlight names of sales people exceeding their quotas in blue. Discoverer Desktop enables you to display several exceptions at once.

folder

A collection of related items within a business area. Folders are defined in the End User Layer using Discoverer Administrator. See: item, business area.

group sort

Formatting that suppresses duplicate values for an item. Applies only to table-layout sheets. For example, if you group sort an item called Region, information will appear grouped under such headings as East, West, North, and South. A group sort is sometimes called break format.

hierarchy

The relationship among items. You can drill up or drill down to related items.

identifier

Identifiers are unique names that Discoverer Desktop uses to identify business area objects (e.g. folders, items, calculations). When matching elements common to different EULs, Discoverer Desktop uses identifiers to locate elements in different EULs that refer to the same business objects (also known as Conceptually Identical Objects).

For example, a folder named 'Sales' in EUL 'A' may refer to the same folder named 'Sales Figures' in EUL 'B'. Both folders have the same identifier and can therefore be identified as referring to the same folder.

item

A particular category of information within a folder, defined in the End User Layer. Items you choose for a query appear in the top axis and side axis of the resulting sheet. See: folder.

materialized view

A Materialized View is a summary mechanism used by Oracle Enterprise Edition databases. Materialized Views pre-compute and store aggregated data for use in SQL queries.

page axis

The axis that displays a page item. The page axis appears above the top axis.

page item

An item that enables you to view data from a particular perspective. Page items apply to a whole sheet. When you create a page item from an axis item or data item, one value appears at a time, such as 1997 for Year. You change the value of the page item—such as 1997, 1998, or 1999—by choosing from the list of available values in the Page item box. Items can be dragged to the Page item box from either the top axis or the side axis.

pivot

To drag an item from one axis to the other (crosstabs only), or from an axis to the Page item box. A side axis item becomes a top axis item or a page item or vice versa. Pivoting enables you to display the data more compactly and show relationships between items more clearly.

query

A search that retrieves information from a database according to criteria you specify. The criteria include items, layout, formatting, conditions, and calculations. Results of a query are displayed in a sheet.

query prediction

An Discoverer Desktop feature that gives an estimate of the time required to retrieve the information in a query. The query prediction appears before the query begins, so you can cancel the query.

sheet

A tab in the workbook window. A sheet displays the results of one or more queries.

side axis

The axis of a sheet that runs vertically along the left side of the sheet. Applies only to a crosstab. See: axis, axis item.

sort

To specify how data in an item should be ordered. For example, you can sort an item from low to high (A–Z) or from high to low (Z–A).

SQL

Acronym for Structured Query Language, the language used to define and manipulate data in a database. You can view the current SQL code for a particular sheet by choosing SQL Inspector from the View menu.

table

A sheet layout that arranges items in columns. Items appear in the top axis. Use a table to list all information that fits the query criteria, such as sales transactions for the last month. See: crosstab.

top axis

The axis of a sheet that runs horizontally along the top of the sheet. See: side axis, axis item.

total

The result of a calculation that summarizes data in a sheet. Examples of totals are minimum, maximum, average, and sum.

workbook

One or more sheets created and saved together. Each sheet is displayed in a separate tab in the workbook.