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Configure tabular data source time settings by using Dashboard Designer

 

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise

When you want to use Time Intelligence in your PerformancePoint dashboards, make sure that you configure the appropriate data sources correctly to work with Time Intelligence. When you configure a data source to work with Time Intelligence, you specify the values that determine how time will be interpreted for each data source. Read this article to learn how to configure tabular data sources, such as Excel Services workbooks, Microsoft Excel workbooks, SharePoint lists, and Microsoft SQL Server tables, to work with Time Intelligence.

Semesters, quarters, and weeks are relative, and are based on the start month, whereas years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds are absolute and are based on the traditional calendar. In the relative time periods, Time Intelligence treats dates that are earlier than the start month as occurring in the previous year, and dates that are later than the start month as occurring in the current year.

Important

Always have time dimensions start at the beginning of their respective year, even if that means having empty members for the first half of the year. For example, if the fiscal time dimension year starts on July 1, 2010, but only has data recorded for January 1, 2011, you still must start the fiscal time dimension on July 1, 2010, to ensure that Time Intelligence functions for the full initial fiscal year.

PerformancePoint Services automatically detects date values in a tabular data source.

If the time dimension that you want to use is not listed in the Time Dimensions section, click the View tab to preview the data source. Select the date column in the preview, and then in the Details pane under Column Type, select TimeDimension.

To set time properties in a tabular data source

  1. After creating a tabular data source connection, click the Time tab.

  2. The Time Dimensions section lists the time columns that PerformancePoint Services has auto-detected in the data source. Select the Time Dimension on which to base all Time Intelligence formulas and functions.

  3. In the Time Period Levels section, select the period levels that you want to use.

    Important

    Time Intelligence for tabular data sources lets you select and use the whole range of levels. This differs from setting time periods in an Analysis Services cube data source, which restricts you to only those time period levels that are built in the cube’s time dimension.

  4. In the Fiscal Calendar section, select the month starts the fiscal year. The first day of the selected month is the start date for the year.

  5. Click Save on the toolbar.

See Also

Concepts

Configure data sources to work with Time Intelligence by using Dashboard Designer
Create a Time Intelligence filter by using Dashboard Designer
Use the Connection Formula dialog box in Dashboard Designer to configure a filter connection