After doing a couple demos recently, I noticed that some of our customers are not aware of the repository panel. It came to me as a surprise as repository panel was introduced with QlikView 10. The repository is a QlikView app level entity that lists all sheet objects, dimensions and expressions that have been used within the current app.
The repository panel is an AJAX client only entity. A user can view the content of the repository and elect to reuse any existing chart or definition by dragging and dropping that definition out on to a sheet. A chart can be pulled from the repository panel. Exposing its properties, a user can then change the dimensionality or measures within the chart. Instant feedback gives the user immediate insight into what they have created.
How does using the repository panel benefit the users? A common reaction from IT and business process owners alike is that they may not trust their users to have the know-how to create QlikView objects. The repository panel aims to eliminate these fears by giving an opportunity to train users to reuse what is already in their app.
On my previous blog post, I explained how to setup comparative analysis on a QlikView app. I have been thinking on how to make it easier for the business users to assign QlikView objects to different alternate states and I came up with this idea of using the container object and the repository panel. The video shows the details of setting up the solution.
In the solution, I used multiple container objects where each of them is assigned to a different state. I set the presentation type of the container objects to grid mode. By using the repository panel, the users can drag and drop different objects into the container objects. As objects in a container object inherit the alternate state, the user can then create different selection states in each container object and visually compare the charts for these different selections.
This solution is a great example of showing how QlikView enables business users to remix and reassemble data in new views and create new comparisons on the fly for deeper understanding!
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