Flex reporting

Flex reporting is a style of formula reporting. It allows a report designer to define a custom drill path for a report. 

Flex reporting enables users to drill within the report, for example, from Products > Customers > Orders. The user can double-click to follow the set path or use a right-click shortcut to go directly to any level in the drill path. This gives a lot of flexibility in a controlled environment.

Each drill returns rows with data only. This means drilling into a particular product would only return customers that have bought that product. This is dependent on the Measure dimension applied over both hierarchies.

To get started, insert a grid and define the starting structure. Define the dimensions placed on filters, rows, and columns. As with traditional formula reports, the report's structure is static once converted to a formula. It's important to start with a grid that matches the final structure.

Once the grid is ready, right-click and select Convert to flex report. This shows the Flex report form.

For more information about the XL3FlexMember, see:XL3FlexMember

Once a flex report is created, drilling works the same way as formula drilling. It follows the defined flex path instead of the hierarchical levels.

Right-clicking on a flex report member will give an Expand To option. This can be used to skip to a particular flex set level.

The Drill to option lets you drill into any ‌hierarchy or attribute in the cube. You can't drill into any hierarchies that are already in the report. These will be disabled.

To add slicers to a flex report - highlight one or more filter members and select Add Slicer. This adds slicers that cascade automatically. They feed into each other top to bottom and will also enable the Auto Filter option on the flex path.