In this week’s FR to MR “where did that feature go” (WDTFG) post, let’s cover how to lock down the dimension members in a POV. It’s a commonly used feature in FR, and much easier to implement in MR than in FR. In FR you had to go into the grid editor and then manage this through the Set up User POV menu (global POV) or the Grid Point of View Setup (grid POV). There are much fewer clicks and menus required in MR.

First, what are the scenarios for this type of reporting setup? Let’s say you’re like most customers who have a number of dimensions in their report POV. And for some of these reports, you want to restrict which members users can select for their POV dimensions. For instance, perhaps your Version dimension needs to be limited to only Working and Final for Planning. Or your Scenario dimension needs to be limited to only the current Scenario (using a substitution variable) and Actual. 

It’s quite easy to lock down dimension POVs in MR. The trick is be cognizant of what you’re doing and also how to undo it when you don’t want users to be locked down any more.

When you’re in the grid editor screen, edit a dimension POV by selecting either the POV dimension name or the “Default” word underneath it:

In the member selection screen, select all the members for the POV that you want to restrict it by. You can use functions, explicit members, substitution variables, etc. Note that it doesn’t matter if this is a grid or global POV. I happen to be showing a global POV.

Now click somewhere off of the member selection screen to minimize it. 

That’s it! (Seriously!) You’ll know that this step is complete because your POV will now show specific members under the dimension name, like shown below, instead of the word “Default”:

Don’t forget to save the report. You don’t need to do anything else. In the example given here, when a regular user runs the report they’ll be able to select only Actual or Forecast and no other dimension members:

Note that in FR you are able to select an initial member for users when using a Grid POV. In MR you don’t have this feature.

Now that you’ve restricted a POV dimension, how do you make the POV member selection open again? This is where the POV Dimension Actions menu comes in handy. Back in the grid editor screen, you’re going to select the 3-dot menu next to the POV dimension that needs re-opening:

Then you’ll select the option “Reset to Default”:

You’ll know that the dimension member selection has been unlocked because now you’ll see the word “Default” under the dimension name again. Easy peasy!