Using the Filter Editor to audit workspace selections:

Ok, so partly inspired by Yo Gabba Gabba’s “Cool Tricks, Cool Tricks” and partly by the annoyance of having users pass filtered data that they seem to think is not being filtered, we come upon my first post.

Anyone in the Analytics world will tell you the most dangerous thing about data is data Misinterpretation which can lead to bad decision making. Business analytics professionals are not only tasked with capturing data, but creating a coherent and easily digestible story to accompany the data. But if the data is not what you think it is, WHOA buddy, you are in for a world of pain when someone tries to work your math backwards to the starting point. (Sadly, when this occurs, you undermine your future credibility and take the focus off the analysis and put it squarely on your now heavily weighted shoulders)

Cluttered Workspace

Omniture Insight, proof of God’s existence and love for data geeks, offers a really neat way to overcome the urge to shoot out findings which may not be representative. Enter FILTER EDITOR, bump bump bum…… Filter Editor is a tool which allows the user to create and store filters which then can be applied to the dataset, applied @ segment export and has various other uses. My personal favorite use for Filter Editor is as a workspace selection auditing tool. Now you may ask, “Why would I need a workspace selection auditing tool?” The answer for people like me is easy, many times I load up my workspaces with many tables and visualizations and it can get a little cluttered.

Simple Workspace with a filter

Using the Filter Editor (Right Click -> Add Visualization -> Filter Editor) you can include or exclude data based on whatever rules you want to apply. Once the Filter Editor window is dropped on your workspace you are ready to roll. Right clicking on the Right-Click to build filter text will open another window allowing you to choose New Condition. (More about conditions and multiple conditions to be written in later posts) Here you have two choices, INCLUDE or EXCLUDE, for auditing purposes we want to focus on INLCUDE GROUP WITH WORKSPACE SELECTION. If this option appears @ this stage, you have workspace selections being applied to the data, in order to see what they are you will want to INCLUDE GROUP WITH WORKSPACE SELECTIONS. Very quickly you will be given all of the selections which are currently made on your workspace. Here you can quickly audit whether or not the data set is representing what you desire in your selections, or whether you have some selections you may not want applied for this analysis.

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me over time. Sometimes when the data looks amazing, I get a rush and need to slow myself down and start crossing off my “Landing Sequence Checklist” before sprinting down the hall exclaiming, “HEY LOOK AT THIS AWESOME DATA”. Tune in next week, same Green Time, Same Green Channel. Later Homies!

ARJ