Cascading Filters is a concept that allows you to take the selection of the first filter and use it to limit the choices in the second filter. The second filter would only have items populated in it based on the selection from the first filter. Filters then cascade until finally the output is used for a report. Basically, this is a guided drill down process.

For more description on how cascading filters work, check out PerformancePoint 2010 Cascading Filters.  For the full example described in this post, review PerformancePoint Services 2010 – Cascading Filter Example.

Following the examples in my previous posts, I have shown below how to “link” or cascade two filters together.  See the image below.  In this example, there are two filters in a PerformancePoint dashboard header.  The “state” filter passes a value to the “county” filter.  Based on the selected state, only the counties from that state are displayed in the county filter.

In general, this process works for multidimensional filter types – Member Selection, MDX Query, and Named Set filter types.

For another example, check out Dan English’s BI Blog post.

If you would like to know more about URL Parameterization for a custom Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint, go to FUTURESULTS, LLC and browse the BI section.

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

The most exciting feature introduced in his post is “Cascading Filters”.  Since this functionality hasn’t  been described yet, I created a “PerformancePoint 2010 Cascading Filters” blog post that  describes how I thought “Cascading Filters” should work.  Cascading filters are the number one enhancement request for the Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint.

I thought it would be interesting to put together a quick example of how “Cascading Filters” should work.  This example shows how to find a location by narrowing down the choices in each successive drop down list.  For example, the user can explore cities in the USA by narrowing their choices by State, County, and City.

A quick geography lesson will help cement the concept.  Our goal is to find Fergus Falls, Minnesota (in Otter Tail county).

Cascading Filters

If you had to find a single city in the USA, it would be difficult for a user to select the correct city from a drop down list.  The drop down list would contain a very large number of cities.  Cities in multiple states could have the same name.  You would have to combine state, county, and city in the drop down for the user to select the appropriate city.  A more efficient approach is to have the user select several items that work together and provide a series of smaller lists to help limit their choices.

Cascading Filters is a concept that allows you to take the selection of the first filter and use it to limit the choices in the second filter.  The second filter would only have items populated in it based on the selection from the first filter.  Filters then cascade until finally the output is used for a report.  Basically, this is a guided drill down process.

For this example, let’s start by selecting “Minnesota” from the drop down that contains a list of all 50 states.  See the diagram below.

The second filter (County) would contain a list of only the counties from the state that was selected in the first filter.  Since we selected “Minnesota” in this example, only the 87 counties for Minnesota would be in the second filter.  Without cascading filters, the second  filter would contain a list of all counties in all 50 states.  We would select “Otter Tail” county for our example.  See the diagram below.

Continuing our geographic example, the city drop down would only contain the 22 cities in Otter Tail county.  We then select Fergus Falls.  Notice that only the 22 cities in Otter Tail county were in the final filter and not every city in the USA.

Cascading filters allowed us to create a series of drop downs with a manageable amount of selections in each filter.  A user can select from simple lists of less than 100 items to obtain the proper criteria.

Now that we have narrowed our search to the selected city, the output of the last filter can then be linked to a report(s) on a dashboard.  More complex combinations of filters could also be configured.  An overview of cascading filter combinations can be seen in the blog post “PerformancePoint 2010 Cascading Filters“.

Cascading Filters make it easier for users to see just the information that they need and select the appropriate filtering criteria.

If you would like to know more about a custom Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint, go to FUTURESULTS, LLC and browse the BI section.

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

According to the post,

A lot of thought went into the design, making them quite robust and “feature-rich.”

There isn’t any other description of how they might be implemented nor is there information on their functionality.  Cascading filters are the number one enhancement request that people ask me about for the Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint.  With this in mind, I thought I would describe how people have asked me to make “Cascading Filters” work.

Filters

First, some filter basics.  PerformancePoint filters can be associated with dashboard reports as shown below.

Cascading Filters

Cascading Filters is a concept that allows you to take the selection of the first filter and use it to limit the choices in the second filter.  The second filter would only have items populated in it based on the selection of the first filter.  The output of the second filter can then be linked to a report(s).  See the diagram below.

An example of Cascading Filters would be a dashboard that contains two filters (a list of states and counties).  The first filter would contain a list of all 50 states.  The second filter would contain a list of only the counties from the state that was selected in the first filter.  So if we selected “Minnesota” in this example, only the 87 counties for Minnesota would be in the second filter.  Without cascading filters, the second filter would contain a list of all counties in all 50 states.

Multiple Cascading Filters

Taking this concept one step further, you should be able to have multiple cascading filters stringed together.  In the example below, we see a series of cascading filters working together.  Using our geographic example, you could have a State, County, and City example.  In this example, you could select, “Minnesota”, “Otter Tail” county, and only the 22 cities in Otter Tail county would be in the final filter.  The example below shows four filters just to continue this line of thinking.

Combination of Cascading Filters and Regular Filters

Cascading filters should not only be able to work with each other, but in combination with regular filters.  In the case below, you can see both a cascading filter and a regular filter working together to filter a single report.  To continue our geographic example, we could have a State, County cascading filter set working with a date range filter.  So we could select “Minnesota”, “Otter Tail” county, and the “Last Quarter” for the date range.

While we need to wait another month for Microsoft to tell us more about this feature, I’m hoping that it can satisfy these types of requirements using multiple related data sources.

If you would like to know more about a custom Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint, go to FUTURESULTS, LLC and browse the BI section.

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

You can download the new version of the tool (Beta Version 0.82) at http://www.futuresults.com/our-products/kerberos-spn-generation-setup-tool.

There is a full description of the tool at http://futuresults.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/kerberos-spn-generation-setup-tool/.

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

The PerformancePoint Text Search Filter is highly configurable.  It can be configured to allow for multiple search criteria and have one or many output columns to help you select the proper item.

In the example below, I can use different search criteria to help me build a results list.  In this case the results list contains “A Great Bicycle Company”, “Great Bicycle Supply”, and “Great Bikes”.  These items were found using various search criteria in the search filter.  As each item was selected, it was put into the multi-select search results displayed on the left hand side of the filter.

The same filter can also be configured to look like a simple drop-down.  In this mode, you can use multiple filter criteria to help you build your “Selections”.  Note below the three Reseller “Selections” in this example are “Acceptable Sales & Service”, “Basic Bike Company”, and “A Great Bicycle Company”.  These results were found by filtering my list of results, using the controls built into the filter for navigation, and simply selecting an item in the “Reseller” list.

To see these examples in action, watch the video below.

If you would like to know more about a Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint, go to FUTURESULTS, LLC and browse the BI section.

What are your thoughts about a Text Search Filter for PerformancePoint 2007?  Do you need a 2010 version?  Are there other features that you need?  How about URL Parameterization?

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

On a positive note, the stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health.  Keep in mind that we only moved to WordPress in September, so this is a partial year’s stats.  Thanks for making FUTURESULTS have a successful first year.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 35 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 116 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was September 28th with 45 views. The most popular post that day was ProClarity Analytics Server Migration to a New Database Server.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were futuresults.com, robertlambrecht.spaces.live.com, blogs.msdn.com, google.com, and Private networks.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for cube perspective performancepoint, proclarity database, creating sql aliases for sharepoint, ssrs 2005, and sql alias sharepoint.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

ProClarity Analytics Server Migration to a New Database Server August 2010

Setting up a Local SQL Alias on a SharePoint Farm June 2010
3 comments

Kerberos SPN Generation Setup Tool May 2010

PerformancePoint Text Filter – Configuration as easy as 1, 2, 3! April 2010

Kerberos Constrained Delegation – Active Directory (Part 2 of 6) April 2010
3 comments

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

It appears that Windows Live Spaces (the home for this blog) is being dropped.  I am in process of moving this blog to its new home at WordPress.  Sorry for the inconvenience while the site is being updated.  The new blog can be found at http://FUTURESULTS.wordpress.com.

As always, you can continue to find product details at http://www.FUTURESULTS.com.

What would you do if you needed to change your ProClarity Dashboard Server database instance name?  Microsoft BI product installations have a separate data tier option.  In other words, the database can be on a different machine than the actual product (like ProClarity).  Occasionally, you may have a need to change your database server or move your data to a new database instance on the same machine.  Maybe you have outgrown your current hardware and need a larger SQL Server machine.  In any case, you are going to have to backup and restore the database, ensure that you have the correct logins and permissions, and change any application configurations to use the new database instance.  Let’s look into these items and see how to make the changes for ProClarity Dashboard Server.

Preparing the Database Machine

There is only one database for ProClarity Dashboard Server. I posted previously about Database Migrations – Configure Logins and Permissions.  This post gives you information about:Backup and Restoration of the SQL Database (Data contained in each database).

• SQL Server 2000 Backup and Restore
• Copying Databases with Backup and Restore
• How to Configure logins and permissions to match the old server (data contained in the old server – like server level user accounts).

After you complete the work above, your new database machine is ready and the data and access to the configuration data is ready.

Configure the ProClarity Dashboard Server

Step 1. Make a copy of the data.config file.

Find the ProClarity Dashboard Server data.config file.  It is located in the ProClarity Dashboard folder.  By default, it is located here:

C:\program files\proclarity\proclarity dashboard server\config

Change directory by executing the following command:

cd C:\program files\proclarity\proclarity dashboard server\config

Copy the data.config file and rename the copy to data.config.original.  The data.config.original file is a backup of this file should we need to restore it.The original file (and it’s copy) will look something like this:

<snip>

<connectionStrings configProtectionProvider=”DataProtectionConfigurationProvider”>
<EncryptedData>
<CipherData>
<CipherValue>ExampleReallyLongCipherValueStringThatIsShortenedAndReadable</CipherValue>
</CipherData>
</EncryptedData>
</connectionStrings>

</snip>

Step 2. Unencrypt the data.config file

Change directory by executing the following command:

cd C:\program files\proclarity\proclarity dashboard server

Run this command to unencrypt the data.config file:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis –pd “connectionStrings” -app “/Dashboard”

Your data.config file will now look something like this:

<snip>

<connectionStrings>
<add name=”Default” connectionString=”server=OldServerDB;database=ProClarity_DashboardServer;User ID=passqladmindashboard;Password=P4ssw0rd”
providerName=”System.Data.SqlClient” />
<add name=”AesEncryptionKey” connectionString=”CAa4WSnHT1uq6EMMnjl6xOuenv9mmS0AWrxMWXhHVQY=” />
</connectionStrings>

</snip>

Step 3. Change the database name

Remember that the data.config file is in the config directory.

Change the database name from OldServerDB to NewServerDB

Your data.config file will now look something like this:

<snip>

<connectionStrings>
<add name=”Default” connectionString=”server=NewServerDB;database=ProClarity_DashboardServer;User ID=passqladmindashboard;Password=P4ssw0rd”
providerName=”System.Data.SqlClient” />
<add name=”AesEncryptionKey” connectionString=”CAa4WSnHT1uq6EMInjl6xOuenv9mmS0AWrxMWXhHVQY=” />
</connectionStrings>

</snip>

Step 4. Encrypt the file

Make sure you are in the “C:\program files\proclarity\proclarity dashboard server” before you execute this command.  Run this command to encrypt this file

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis -pe “connectionStrings” -app ”/Dashboard” -prov ”DataProtectionConfigurationProvider”

Your data.config file will be encrypted again with a new <CipherValue>

The connection information in the data.config file should now be encrypted and look something like the data.config.original file with different encrypted values.

Step 5. Reboot the server

Restart the ProClarity Dashboard Server and reboot the server to insure that the application can connect to the database on the new server.

If there was an issue, you can restore the original file by deleting the current data.config file and renaming the data.original.config file to data.config and rebooting the server once again.

Notes:

For more information on how to encrypt and decrypt the config file, see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/paght000005.asp

If you try to copy and paste the commands from this post, sometimes the “minus” sign and “dash” symbol get superimposed.  It is best to type the command instead of using cut and paste.

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Web Site are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

What would you do if you needed to change your ProClarity Analytics Server database instance name?  Let’s take a step back and start with some background.  Microsoft BI product installations have a separate data tier option.  In other words, the database is on a different machine than the actual product (like ProClarity).  Occasionally, you may have a need to change your database server or move your data to a new database instance on the same machine.  Perhaps you have a leased server and the lease expired.  Maybe you have outgrown your current hardware and need a larger SQL Server machine.  In all of these cases, you are going to have to backup and restore the database, ensure that you have the correct logins and permissions, and change any application configurations to use the new database instance.  Let’s look into these items and see how to make the changes for ProClarity Analytics Server.

Preparing the Database Machine

There is only one database for ProClarity Analytics Server.

I posted previously about Database Migrations – Configure Logins and Permissions.  This post gives you information about:

Backup and Restoration of the SQL Database (Data contained in each database).

• SQL Server 2000 Backup and Restore
• Copying Databases with Backup and Restore
• How to Configure logins and permissions to match the old server (data contained in the old server – like server level user accounts).

After you complete the work above, your new database machine is ready and the data and access to the configuration data is ready.

Configuring ProClarity Analytics Server

Open the ProClarity Analytics Server Administration Tool

Right-click the name of the PAS server & select Properties.

In the “SQL server” box enter the name of the new SQL Server.  For example, change the SQL server name from “BI-VPC” to “NewDB“.  Better yet, create a SQL Alias so you will have an easier way to make this change in the future.  ProClarity Analytics Server will restart after selecting OK.

While not always required, I have found it beneficial to Reboot the ProClarity Analytics Server.  I suggest doing this as part of your process.

Navigate to the ProClarity Analytics Server web site to insure that the applications still renders all of your Briefing Books. FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Web Site are both created by Robert Lambrecht.

To date, I’ve written a series of blog posts that describe how to use the “Input” section of the “Kerberos SPN Generation / Setup Tool”.  This is a continuation of the series of blog posts “Kerberos SPN Generation / Setup Tool” that describe how to use the Kerberos SPN Generation Setup Tool Beta for Kerberos Constrained Delegation with Integrated Windows Authentication for Microsoft BI tools.  The next short series of posts will discuss the “Generate SPNs” process.  You can download the Kerberos SPN Generation Setup Tool Beta at FUTURESULTS, LLC.

Main Menu / Navigation – SPN Generation Section

Generate SPNs

You made it through all of the details on how to enter data into each of the input tabs.  This section’s example will consist of only the “PAS Tab” example given previously.  In other words, pretend that we have only entered information into the “Common Tab” and the “PAS Tab”.  While this example is for a ProClarity setup, it works the same with all input tabs that are complete.

For review purposes, the “PAS Tab” entries look like this:

Now that we have completed the input section, go back to the “Main Menu / Navigation” tab and select the “Generate SPNs” link.  You must be connected to the domain prior to selecting the “Generate SPNs” link.  If there are any errors when we select “Generate SPNs”, you will be notified either by pop up messages, messages in the “Messages” section, or non-green “traffic light” symbols by the appropriate input sections.  You must clear all errors prior to generating SPNs.

When the “Generate SPNs” traffic light is green, you have successfully generated SPNs.  The tool interrogates your domain (that is why you must be connected to your domain) and creates the proper SPNs.  It is that easy!

The next step is to review the SPN Output via the “SPNOutput” tab.  Notice in this case that there are SPNs Suggested to Add (column E).  Your implementation may have more or less SPNs to add based on information that is already in your domain.  In this case, the SPNs associated with “sql_analysis” already resided in the domain so there was no need to add SPNs for this domain account.

“SPNOutput” Tab Example.

If we look at the “Delegation” tab, notice that the delegation needed does not exist (cell D8).  More on Delegation in the future.

Delegation Tab Example.

Export SPNs to Add

Since there were SPNs to add listed in the “SPNOutput” tab, we need to Export SPNs.  Go back to the “Main Menu / Navigation” tab and select the “Export SPNs to Add” link.  This link creates a file with the commands needed to add the appropriate SPNs.  You must be a Domain Administrator to run the batch file on the Domain Controller.

The file was purposely created with a .txt extension.  Many times this file must be emailed to another person with Domain Administrator rights on the domain controller.  Email systems normally block files with .bat extensions (that’s why the file is saved as a .txt).  Once you copy the file to the domain controller, change it to a .bat extension.  In this example, we would rename the file to “SPNs2ADDInput.bat”.

Export SPNs to Add Example (-L means List, -A means Add).

When the file is on the domain controller you can run it and redirect the output to a file if you like.  For example you would run this file and redirect it’s output as follows:

SPNs2AddInput.bat > SPNs2AddOutput.txt

The output file contains listings of what the service accounts looked like before adding the new SPNs as well as after the SPNs are added.  In addition, ensure that each SPN was successfully added by searching the output file for “Updated object” after each add SPN command.  If there was any kind of error or you mistakenly typed in the wrong service account, etc. use the “Export SPNS to Remove (Undo)” commands in the next section.

Example SPNs to Add Batch File Results.

Export SPNs to Remove (Undo)

Hopefully, this section should be self-explanatory.  Basically it works exactly like the “Export SPNs to Add” section above except it removes SPNs instead of adding SPNs.  The process is similar and should always be done in conjunction with the “Export SPNs to Add” process.  In other words, you should always select this link immediately after saving the “Export SPNs to Add” link.  In this way, you can assure that the Remove file contains the same information as the Add file.  If anything goes wrong with the “Export SPNs to Add” process, you can remove whatever was done in the “Add” batch file.

Use this process to clean up mistakes (if an error exists).  The general steps are:

1. Go to the Main Menu / Navigation Tab
2. Select the “Export SPNs to Remove (Undo)” link (immediately after selecting the “Export SPNs to Add” link)
3. Copy the file to the Domain Controller
4. Rename the file to “SPNs2RemoveInput.bat”

5. Run command (ONLY IF NEEDED) SPNs2RemoveInput.bat > SPNs2RemoveOutput.txt

DO NOT RUN THIS FILE AFTER SUBSEQUENT CHANGES TO YOUR DOMAIN CONTROLLER HAVE BEEN MADE.  In other words, this command will remove the SPNs that were added only if subsequent changes have not been made.  If you made additional SPN changes, it could remove a SPN that is now used for another purpose.  The “Remove” process is no longer relevant once other SPN changes are made to the domain.  If you have any question about other changes, do not use this batch file and seek help from a knowledgeable source to remove SPNs manually.

Export SPNs to Add Example (-L means List, -D means Delete).

Example SPNs to Remove (Undo) Batch File Results.

Review SPN Information

Now that we have completed adding SPNs to your domain, go back to the “Main Menu / Navigation” tab and again select the “Generate SPNs” link.  The tool interrogates your domain and creates additional SPN suggestions if needed.  In this case, it should find that you have added the appropriate SPNs and nothing additionally needs to be created.  You can validate this by reviewing the “SPNs to Add” section (column E) via the “SPNOutput” tab.

You can review the SPNs in your domain for each account that is entered into the spreadsheet (columns A & B).  Just as an FYI, some of the SPNs were generated automatically (in this case HOST and TERMSRV).  Other SPNs were entered manually via the SPN tool.

SPNOutput Tab – Review output information.  Notice there are no SPNs to Add.

Other SPN Generation Tips and Tricks

Domain Controller Replication

Many domains use replication between domain controllers.  This replication may take several minutes to occur.  If you add a new SPN, you may need to wait several minutes to rerun the spreadsheet process in order to do the SPN review process.

The point of this tool is to help you generate SPNs correctly based on parameters that can be gathered by administrators.  The process outlined in these blog posts allows you to have good documentation, reduce issues (like duplicate SPNs), and have a tool to check and troubleshoot your configuration later in case additional changes were made to your domain (other product setups).

Export SPNs to Remove (Undo)

Do not try to generate the “Undo” file at a later date if any domain changes were made.  In other words, do not use the tool to add SPNs and then later select the “Generate SPNs” link in the tool and then try to create the “Undo” file.  The only way that the “Undo” file works is if it is generated at the same time as the “Add” file and no subsequent changes are made to SPNs in the domain.

What additional features would you like to see in a Kerberos SPN setup tool?  Leave your suggestions below.

FUTURESULTS, LLC Blog and FUTURESULTS, LLC Website are both created by Robert Lambrecht.