Powerplay Transformer: Comparing figures with last year

[kdemulder]

I am making a report on daily figures of our stores. I am, in this reporting, comparing figures from 'today' against 'today Y-1' (being the same day, last year). Now at this time, when I select a 'same day, last year' he gives the same day as in:
today: 2004/03/13
today (last year): 2003/03/13
This gives me figures that compare a saturday (this year) against a thursday(last year).
What I realy want is to compare this saturday against the SAME saturday last year. Being the saturday of the 11th week. How do I do this in Powerplay Transformer? Is this a category I can create in the date dimension diagram?
In the same line: How do I make a Week-to-date overview with the same requirements

 

[flex13]

If you have data for every day then what you could is create a relative time category to display the desired day. You would first have to figure out how many days that have passed between today() and the day that you do want to see. Then in your target offset, select -364 (for example).

If you have days that are missing data, then this may not work.

 

[kdemulder]

Hmm... That wouldn't make it a particular dynamic report. It would need some updating from time to time. I was more looking for a solution in Cognos. I thought it would have this functionality as it is, I think, a pretty crucial function to analyse weeks to the same weeks in the past.
But I do think your solution is the only one I can use for now Flex. Thanks

 

[kdemulder]

Hmm... Unfortunately this doesn't make the report particularly reusable. It would need permanent updating. I really thoughts this would've been a function in Cognos. I can find a glance of it in the category creation, but it doesn't push the envelope. SO I think Flex your solution will be the only one I can use for now. I sure hope they put it in the next edition. Cuz I think comparing the same week in several years is kinda crucial.

Thanks Flex for the help.

 

[kdemulder]

Dang... it did come trough twice

 

[GJParker]

The place to do this is in the data file you are building the model from, Create a calendar containing Year and Week No for each date in the years your cube covers, You can then use this to build a time dimension using the heirarchy form your calendar file.

HTH

Gary Parker
Systems Support Analyst
Manchester, England

 

[kdemulder]

Are you referring here to, for instance, an impromptu report, or really to the database level? In case of impromptu, how can I generate this? And can't this be generated in the transformer?
Thx for your response Gary.

 

[GJParker]

You would have to create this as an external file, database or spreadsheet even. and bring this into transformer as a seperate data source.

HTH

Gary Parker
Systems Support Analyst
Manchester, England

 

[kdemulder]

Hmm.. That would indeed be a good idea. I'll give it a go! Thanks!

 

[flex13]

The technique above WOULD be dynamic because it would be based on the current period. If you have data for every day, this key so I'll mention it again, then creating a relative time category from the current day, say -365 days or whatever your formula dictates, would provide you with a dynamic period.

For example:

March 22/04 - formula value = March 22/03
March 21/04 - formula value = March 21/03
etc ...

The only time that this would need to be updated is leap years or special accounting periods.