Dynamic Commentary in Reports

Overview

You can collaborate within Dynamic Reports, Spotlight Web (Analyze and Report), and SpotlightXL (Analyze and Report), and Excel Based Reports using the Dynamic Commentary functionality.

You can perform the following:

• Add cell level comments.

• Edit, Delete, Highlight, or Resolve comments.

• Post comments for a combination of dimensions at leaf level, rollup level, and calculated members.

• Add users, text, #tags, and hyperlinks in the comments.

• Assign tasks and track their status from Task Manager.

• Mark Task as Complete in the Comment(s) pane.

• View all comments in the application and perform actions such as Delete and Highlight in Comments Manager.

Note:

This functionality is only supported in Google Chrome.

You can view an indicator wherever a comment is posted in the report. You can include the following in a comment:

• Add a user - Type + and select the required username to tag the user in a comment. When you type +, username suggestions are provided automatically for the ease of selection. A notification is sent to the tagged user. You can turn off the notifications if required.

• Add # tags - Type # to find the most used tags in a comment.

• Add URLs in a comment.

Note:

A maximum of 1024 characters are allowed in a comment. Additionally, up to 30 comments can be posted in a thread for any data intersection and a maximum of 50000 comments are allowed in the application.

Posting a Comment

1. Click Reports and open a Dynamic Report.

2. Enable the Comments On option from the More list box in Dynamic Reports. The default is set to Comments Off.  

   

   If Comments On is enabled, the Comment option is visible on the right-click menu. A visual indicator is displayed if a comment already exists on a cell. When Comments Off is enabled, the Comment option and visual indicators for comments are removed from the Dynamic Report. The setting is retained when you Save, Save As or Copy a Dynamic Report.

2. Right-click on the required cell. The menu list appears.

3. Click Comment. A pop-up window appears.  

   

4. Enter the required text and click Comment. The comment is saved successfully.  

   

Any user with read-only or full access to the report can post comments for a data intersection honoring dimension security.

You can post comments on the following cells with:

• Data combination of leaf level, roll up level, calculated members.

• Data where substitution variables are used in the dimension intersection.

• Data derived from a Custom Member (hierarchy-based, multi-dimensional rule, calculation-based) when calculation-based comments are stored for the Custom Member on the corresponding dimension. This is applicable for Dynamic Report and Financial Reporting Area ( for Main and Alternate hierarchies).

• Data derived from Attributes or Attribute Hierarchy used on the Page, Row, or Column axis of a Dynamic Report.

• Data where multiple members are used on the Page axis. This is applicable for Dimensions, Attributes, Attribute Hierarchy, Substitution Variables on the Page axis.

• Comments are always visible on the Dynamic Report for a combination of the dimension selections. The comment can also be viewed from the Comment Manager page.

Assigning a Comment

While posting a comment, you can assign the comment to any intended user to take action on the comment. While tagging a user, you can select the Assign check box, and this action will create a task for the assigned user. Enter @ and provide the username of user you want to assign.

Note:

The assignee can access the task from Task Manager once the task is assigned.

Assigning a comment requires the following details:

• Task Name: Provide a label for the comment. The assignee can identify the comment based on the task name.

• Due Date: Provide a final date to resolve the comment.

• Priority: Select a metric (Low, Mid, or High) to show the importance of the comment.

Click Create Task. A notification is sent to the mentioned user.  

The assignees and admin will have access to the assigned tasks. You can view the task details from Task Manager.

Note:

You can assign only one task from a comment in a thread. You can assign a task to only one user at a time.

Note:

If a comment is deleted, the task assigned from the comment is retained, but all the links to the comment are removed. If a task linked to the comment is deleted, the task-related information is also removed from the Comment pop-up window

Resolving a Comment

Once a tagged user addresses the comment, they can use the Resolve option in the comment pop-up to close it.

If the comment is assigned, the assignee has to enable the Mark as Completed toggle and click Resolve to close the comment.

Note:

The Administrator or any user with access to comments on a data cell can resolve the thread posted by any user.

You can resolve the comments from anywhere (Dynamic Reports, Spotlight Web (Analyze and Report), and SpotlightXL (Analyze and Report), and Excel Based Reports) within the application irrespective of where you posted the comment.

You can view the resolved comments from the Comments Manager page. An icon is displayed next to resolved comments as shown in the image below.

Use the Filter icon to filter resolved comments in the grid. Also, you can delete resolved comments using the More option. The image below shows the filter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Once a comment is resolved, you cannot reopen, edit, reply, or highlight that comment. However, a new thread can be started for the same cell.

Mark as Completed

You can change the status of any of your assigned tasks to Completed directly from the Comments pop-up window using the Mark as Completed toggle.

Only Assignee, Reporter, or Administrator can mark the status Completed using the Mark as Completed toggle. The Mark as Completed toggle is available in Dynamic Reports, Spotlight Web - Analyze and Reports, SpotlightXL - Analyze, Reports, and Excel Based Reports. The following image shows the status of a task marked as completed using the toggle.

When you mark any task Completed from the Comments pop-up window, the same status is automatically updated for the corresponding task in the Task Manager page.

Other Actions

The posted comments have a contextual menu using which you can perform different actions on that comment:

• Edit - Use this option to modify any existing comment.

• Highlight - Use this option to highlight any comment if it has to stand out from the rest of the comments.

• Delete Thread - Use this option to delete the actual comment and comment thread.

Edit Comment Tasks in Task Manager

The tasks created from a comment are editable from Task Manager. This is applicable to the information mentioned in the Comment pop-up window. If you edit any of the task information from Task Manager, the updated information will be reflected in the Comments pop-up window.

If a task is completed, then a tick mark is visible on the Comments pop-up window against the respective task name.

If you change the assignee from Task Manager, the assignee details in the Comment pop-up window is not updated. If a task is deleted from Task Manager, it is removed from the Comment pop-up window, however, the user mentioned in the comment is retained.

Limitations

• Comments are not supported for the following:

• • Cells where advanced rules, multi-member selections on the Report Set rule, excel formulas, headers, footers, or Subtotals or Grand Total are used.

  • When multiple POV selections, attributes, or attribute hierarchies are used.

  • External Source Models in Spotlight.

  • When a user is in an inactive state.

• Comments are not copied from the previously linked PCR application when you copy Modeling only application.

• Model Backup and Restore does not retain comments.

• Comments are not moved from source to target when data is moved from one model to another.

• Comments posted on leaf members do not roll up into its parent.

• Comments are supported only in Google Chrome.