The percentage values calculated by Discoverer. For example, using the new

16 Sorting data 16-1 16 Sorting data This chapter explains how to use Discoverer Plus Relational’s sorting capabilities such as alphabetical, numeric, and group sorting. This section contains the following topics: ■ What is sorting? ■ About sorting on table worksheets ■ About sorting on crosstab worksheets ■ What is group sorting? ■ How to sort data on a table worksheet ■ How to sort data on a crosstab worksheet ■ How to change how worksheet data is sorted ■ How to remove sorting from a worksheet ■ Examples of sorting What is sorting? Sorting is the process of arranging data into meaningful order so that you can analyze it more effectively. For example, you might want to order sales data by calendar month so that you can produce a graph of sales performance. You can use Discoverer to sort data as follows: ■ sort text data into alphabetical order ■ sort numeric data into numeric order ■ group sort data to many levels, for example, you can sort on City within Month within Year Sorting worksheet data also makes it easier to analyze. For example, you might want to sort sales data from most profitable sales to least profitable sales to show the relative position of your company’s best selling products. Discoverer offers great flexibility when sorting data within data. You can do this to many different levels. For example, you can sort by City within Region. Note : Discoverer sorts data according to the alphabetical or numeric sequence most appropriate for the local language. For more information about choosing a language when you start Discoverer, contact the Discoverer manager. 16-2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Users Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus About sorting on table worksheets On table worksheets, you can sort columns individually or in groups. For example, the figure below shows a worksheet sorted on one item Region in the order low to high that is, A to Z. Figure 16–1 A table worksheet sorted on Region The figure below shows a table worksheet sorted on two items, City within Region in the order low to high that is, A to Z. Figure 16–2 A table worksheet sorted on City within Region For more examples on sorting in Discoverer, see Examples of sorting . About sorting on crosstab worksheets On crosstab worksheets, you can sort by either of the following: ■ by columns on the vertical axis ■ by rows on the horizontal axis By default, Discoverer sorts data on a crosstab automatically as follows: ■ text data is sorted alphabetically from A-Z language dependent ■ numeric data is sorted from lowest to highest Because the location of data on a crosstab worksheet determines the relationship of one data item to another, sorting on a crosstab worksheet is different to sorting on a table worksheet. When you sort on a crosstab worksheet, you typically want to maintain data relationships while rearranging the data.