16.6 Tips for Drill-friendly Reports
- Tell users that drilling exists: add a subtitle "Use ↓ to drill into areas and stores".
- Drill works per visual. Other visuals on the page are not drilled, but they are filtered if you click a bar in drill mode (cross-filter).
- Drill state can be saved in a bookmark (Module 19), for example "Pune areas view".
- In the Service, the drill icons appear on hover. Viewers may need Header icons visible (General › Header icons).
- Keep hierarchies short (3–4 levels) and levels unique (Store Name should be unique).
Practice task
Simple bhashet sangaycha tar, create a matrix with Product hierarchy rows and Date hierarchy columns. (a) Expand only Dairy & Breakfast. (b) Expand all columns to Quarter, keeping years. (c) Exclude Personal Care. (d) Explain to Ruhi why Go to next level on Month gives different numbers from Expand all down.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Mitrano, khup students build drill paths so deep (Region › City › Area › Store › Product › Day) that users get lost. Keep hierarchies to three or four levels, and use drill-through for the detailed view instead of drilling ever deeper. Chuk karu naka!
Thodkyaat sangaycha tar (quick recap)
Aadhi hierarchy, mag drill; Month var Go to next level kela tar varsha mix hotat, mhanun Expand all down vapra. Aata pudhe jaauya drill through kade.