Cross-Tab example

This example demonstrates how you can use a Cross-Tab object to make it easier to understand complex data. The goal of this report is to analyze the unit sales of five different bicycle locks in four different regions (a unit sales of locks by region report). For greater clarity, only the most essential information in these reports has been included:

• the region from which the order came
• the name of the lock
• the quantity ordered.

The first way of looking at the data is in the most basic of all reports, a columnar report with no grouping or sorting.

Report of order data - no sorting/grouping

This report presents details. Each row represents an individual order. There are many orders from each of the regions for different locks. But because there is no summary information, it is nearly impossible to get any useful information out of a report like this.

The next logical step is to group the data in some way. You can group it by region, or by product line. The following section shows a look at both of these options.