Number formats - "#,##0;(#,##0);" Only works for some users.
Hi,
I am have an issue with the need to format a report consistently. The issue is that within the discovery pivot we have added which we need format "#,##0;(#,##0);". This works well for some users but does not work for others.
It turns out after a bit playing around that if the user has entered manually entered the format within any report they have built the format will be able to be used. If the user is only a consumer of reports or has not used the specified that format in the design mode it will not work.
As a workaround we can do the following to resolve the issue but has to be done on each users machine.
1. Open a new discovery window.
2. Add any measure.
3. On the measure on the right hand side click format.
4. Enter the format you wish to add
a. Most commonly Used formats
i. ‘#,##0;(#,##0);’
ii. ‘#,##0.00;(#,##0.00);’
iii. ‘#,##0;(#,##0)’
iv. ‘#,##0.00;(#,##0.00)’
This is obviously not ideal and would like to know if there is a way to ensure that a format is usable by default.
5 replies
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You are misinterpreting how the custom formats work. When a user changes a measure format in Discover, they are making a change for that measure across the platform for themselves only. Another user opening that report or using that measure will not see this adjustment. This is supposed to be a seldom used formatting approach - because its focused on just the single user.
Today, admins can do the same things for groups of users through the data source manager tool in the admin console, by setting measure formats by role. Alternatively, if its a Pyramid model, they can set it globally for any user by specifying it in the model itself. This is the main approach - because its about setting the format standard for each measure on a more global basis.
As of the next big release, users can make format adjustments in Discover for the specific report only (for all users) or for themselves only (as it works today). This will also close the gap between the individual format setting and the group-wide setting.
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Is there a guide to doing this?
I am using a MS tabular model and within the source manager I have the warning 'Enable the data server's 'Pyramid security and metadata overlay; flag but I cannot see that setting.
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Yes there is. Search for "Source Manager" in our help. Look for measure overlays in that section.
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Thanks for the answer. I have found a way to achieve the important part of the task. I have used the custom formatting option on the measures\calculations within the MS tabular model.
Both methods to achieve the formatting of currency columns but raise the question about what happens when you want to different formats for the same measure in different columns\reports. An example would be a transaction report where you want see it in one format for example including two decimals points but when you want report to on the whole year totals you want to just see the whole numbers.
I guessing I must have missed something in the way you apply formats.
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You cannot use 2 different formats on the same measure. You can try set formats on custom MEMBERS instead. Engines like MS Multidimensional OLAP or SAP BW can also allow you to do this by using things like scope statements which let you change the format at the cell level. (While very convenient, its not easy to implement).