User manual BUSINESS OBJECTS DASHBOARD AND ANALYTICS 3.0 FOR WINDOWS SETUP AND ADMINISTRATION GUIDE

[. . . ] Dashboard and Analytics Setup and Administration BusinessObjects Dashboard and Analytics 3. 0 Windows Copyright © 2008 Business Objects. Business Objects owns the following U. S. patents, which may cover products that are offered and licensed by Business Objects: 5, 555, 403; 5, 857, 205; 6, 289, 352; 6, 247, 008; 6, 490, 593; 6, 578, 027; 6, 831, 668; 6, 768, 986; 6, 772, 409; 6, 882, 998; 7, 139, 766; 7, 299, 419; 7, 194, 465; 7, 222, 130; 7, 181, 440 and 7, 181, 435. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Business Objects Crystal Vision, Business Process On Demand, BusinessQuery, Crystal Analysis, Crystal Applications, Crystal Decisions, Crystal Enterprise, Crystal Insider, Crystal Reports, Desktop Intelligence, Inxight, the Inxight Logo, LinguistX, Star Tree, Table Lens, ThingFinder, Timewall, Let there be light, Metify, NSite, Rapid Marts, RapidMarts, the Spectrum Design, Web Intelligence, Workmail and Xcelsius are trademarks or registered trademarks in the United States and/or other countries of Business Objects and/or affiliated companies. [. . . ] If you select "Calendar", select an interval and specify the beginning and end dates. · · Custom to support custom periods. Imported to support imported periods. 6. If you select "Calendar" or "Custom", configure the calendar span. Click OK to save the calendar. Related Topics · · · · Calendar span on page 73 Creating a custom period calendar on page 69 Importing a calendar on page 70 Selecting period display options for a calendar on page 72 Deleting an existing calendar from the repository Before you remove a calendar, you must first remove any metrics that use the calendar in their definitions. Go to Dashboard and Analytics Setup > Time Config > Calendar. Select the calendar you want to delete from the list. Click Remove. Moving averages in calendars Moving average is a method of calculating the average value of an indicator, over a period of time. In some time series, seasonal variation is so strong it obscures trends or cycles. Use moving averages as a smoothing method to 74 Dashboard and Analytics Setup and Administration Analytics calendars Moving averages in calendars 8 remove seasonality and make long-term fluctuations in the series stand out more clearly. Use moving averages for forecasting. Note: All the moving average methods are externalized in the stats. ini file, which can be customized. Applying a moving average transformation to a calendar You can apply moving averages to calendars. When you create a metric based on a calendar that has a moving average associated to it, the data points are smoothed according to the selected moving average calculation. Go to Dashboard and Analytics Setup > Time Config > Moving Average. The "Moving Average Transformation" page appears. Select a calendar from the "Calendar Name" list. The average calculation you select is applied each time you select the calendar for a metric. Depending on whether you select a daily, weekly, or monthly calendar different moving average transformations are listed in the "Available Transformations" list. From "Available Transformations", click the moving average you want to associate to the selected calendar. The moving average is added to the "Defined Transformations" list. The selected moving average is added to the transformation page. The next time you apply the calendar to a metric, the moving average calculation is applied to the data series. Related Topics · Moving averages in calendars on page 74 Dashboard and Analytics Setup and Administration 75 8 Analytics calendars Moving averages in calendars Moving averages explained What is the moving average? In data analysis, you use the moving average to calculating the average value of an indicator, over a period of time. In some time series, seasonal variation is so strong it obscures any trends or cycles, which are very important for the understanding of the process being observed. [. . . ] A centered weighted moving average is useful to de-seasonalize the data. If your time series is quarterly, use the MA 2x4. If stronger "seasonality filters" are required, use MA 2x8 or MA 2x12 for quarterly series. MA centered A moving average transformation. Dashboard and Analytics Setup and Administration 137 15 Terms and concepts What is a sliced metric? Related Topics · What is the moving average?on page 134 What is single exponential smoothing? Single exponential smoothing (SES) is a forecasting method that works best for data which have no trend, no seasonality, or underlying pattern. [. . . ]