Focal Point
30-CHAR LIMITATION

This topic can be found at:
https://forums.informationbuilders.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1461084022/m/5017022516

January 09, 2012, 08:08 AM
Keerthi
30-CHAR LIMITATION
Hi,

Is there any work-around for the below 30-char issue in PMF.
Assuming I have a Location dimension which has 4 hierarchy levels.
Level1 -> Country
Level2 -> State
Level3 -> Region
Level4 -> Branch

here Branch level contains data which is more than 30 char.
And I have a Measure "Sales" which uses this dimension.
I am facing data mismatch issue when dimension data(Branch) is greater than 30 char, as my database contains "Information Technology Outsourcing Center" where as PMF truncates this data automatically to 30 characters "Information Technology outsour".
one way is to truncate database value to 30-char and then compare, but I dont want to use this approach because my database has possible values like
"Information Technology Outsourcing Center - 1"
"Information Technology Outsourcing Center - 2"
which will again cause a mismatch issue.

any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Ragards,
Keerthi


WebFOCUS 7.6
Windows, All Outputs
January 09, 2012, 08:46 AM
Bob Jude Ferrante
The simplest way to solve this is to abbreviate the level value. In your case for example, just using "IT" rather than "Information Technology" will give you the result you want. We don't hit the limit often and it's only really a problem when the level values are identical to 30 characters, such as yours is.

Another way to look at this is to think of your users... they aren't going to have a good time looking at the tiny differences between those two values:

Information Technology Outsourcing Center - 1

  • Information Technology Outsourcing Center - 2


  • IT Outsourcing Center 1

  • IT Outsourcing Center 2


  • SO... you get a friendlier dashboard.

    We deliberately set this 30 character limit on level values for *both* technical and practical reasons. At 4 levels per Dimension, you already have a Dimension path that maxes out at 124 characters; if you went to 16 levels it would be 495. So using more than 30 characters for a dimension level value is from a practical sense unreadable in a report or dashboard.

    Hope this is understandable and helps.
    thanks


  • Bob Jude Ferrante
    Director of Business and Development
    WebFOCUS Performance Management
    Bob_Ferrante@ibi.com
    917-339-5105

    I'll take any questions about PMF - business or technical - anytime!

    January 10, 2012, 09:07 AM
    Moogle
    Hi Keerthi,

    I created a technique a while ago that might help with this situation:

    http://www.informationbuilders...opers/DescriptionPMF

    Cheers,

    Joey


    -WebFOCUS 8.2.01 on Windows
    January 11, 2012, 02:30 AM
    Keerthi
    I will have to take this discussion forward with our working group and decide on one of the best suitable ways as suggested by Bob.

    Thanks all for your help.


    WebFOCUS 7.6
    Windows, All Outputs