Web Intelligence SP2: Input Controls

With the release of XI 3.1 SP2 came quite a few new features for Web Intelligence. For the next few weeks, I will be presenting and discussing the features. In addition, I will try to provide my opinion on how the features can be used to improve the interactions with users (of the casual and power variety). For this post, I will be focusing on the new Input Controls available with Web Intelligence.

What are Input Controls?
The Web Intelligence input controls provide a quick and easy way for users to filter the content that is displayed within a Web Intelligence document. The use of filtering for a user allows them to not only cut through the information to get to what is important, but also aids the user in analyzing the information before them by determining insights that were not previously visible before a filter occurred. For example, if I am looking at a report that shows me all sales revenue by quarter and year for my many store locations then it is likely that I am not going to get to the information that I need quickly. I could use an input control available within the report to quickly filter the displayed content down to a specific year, quarter, region, or store. You could also use an input filter applied to a measure. This would allow you to use a slider control to easily see how the measure changes over time.

How do Input Controls work?
The screenshot below shows a report that displays all of the stores from the eFashion Universe with their 2005 sales revenue values in a table format. This report has been filtered using an Input Control.
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