How:Slice & Dice Library Data

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« Page as of 2016-10-26, editions Mobile 3.9.7, Desktop 1.0.3 »

This page is incomplete and under development.

To describe how to perform the functions involved in slicing & dicing, we will use as an example a library Orders of orders on a date of a product by a customer, so there are related libraries Customers and Products.

Preparing the example
If you'd like to play along (recommended), add the libraries:
  • Customers with unique entry name and the following fields:
  • Products with unique entry name and the following fields:
  • Orders with unique entry name and the following fields:

Note that we already have some good hooks for subsequent analysis:

  • Customers have types and zip codes. This will enable orders to be summarized by customer type and by location.
  • Products have categories, cost, and a standard price. We can summarize by product category, and cost & standard price give us the basis for calculation of margins.

Preparing for maximal slicing & dicing benefit

To prepare for subsequent analysis of the data, add related data and calculations to the data and then define aggregations of the data.

Bring related data into the entry

First, bring the "good hooks for subsequent analysis", mentioned above, into the Orders library to enable them to be used during analysis.

Add these fields to Orders
  • Press the +Field button, choose Customer.Type from the list
  • Press the +Field button, choose Customer.Zip code from the list
  • Press the +Field button, choose Product.Category from the list
  • Press the +Field button, choose Product.Cost from the list
  • Press the +Field button, choose Product.Std price from the list

Calculate with related data

Then, add any calculations within the newly-expanded Orders library that will assist in data analysis.

Add these fields to Orders
  • Either using the +Field button or by just typing, enter this script:
field('Product std price') - field('Product cost')
  • Enter this script:
field('Price') - field('Product cost')

Aggregation

Calculate useful information — such as totals, averages, maximums, and minimums — across all entries in the library. During slicing & dicing, these calculations can become subtotals and other calculations for subsets of library entries.

Slicing & Dicing

Once the libraries are set up, and data is entered, the job of viewing the data and making sense of it is at hand. While viewing the list of library entries, the following activities will give you the best possible look at the data and any wisdom that may be contained within it.

Filtering

First, you can restrict your investigation to a portion of the entries in the library. For example, you can filter to view orders only for a particular customer or gasoline only for your current car.

Grouping

Then, within the filtered data, you may want to see certain data sparsely from others, such as orders of certain products or fuel purchases from certain gas stations. If you group your order entries by product or your fuel purchase entries by gas station, you can then not only see them separately and quickly switch between them, but aggregations will be displayed for each, in addition to aggregation of the entire set.

Sorting

With sorting, you can determine the order of entries, and if grouped, the order of the groups and the order of entries within groups.

Charting

Another tool Memento provides for data analysis is charting the data. Memento charting is very flexible, providing visual views of the data.

Putting it all together

It is not always clear how clarity and wisdom unfolds from within the data, but with artful use of these functions, one can often detect patterns in the data that would otherwise not be apparent. Use sorting carefully to enhance the effect of grouping. Grouping can often be used in place of filtering.