How to Create a Drill Down Outline

Generating effective reports depends on one's ability to manipulate raw data and present information that is not readily apparent from a quick review. A popular reporting tool is the drill-down outline, which allows users to retrieve detailed statistics about specific portions of data. For example, a sales report might include a pie chart that shows the percent distribution of sales among five countries; a drill-down outline allows the user to select one of those five countries and retrieve a geographic analysis of sales within that country. Creating drill-down outlines allows you to add depth to your reports.

Instructions

    • 1

      Generate the initial report that you wish users to see using the program of your preference. For example, create a pie chart that shows total sales for each country. Consider creating a Web page with an embedded PHP application to create dynamic reports from your database if you are familiar with PHP coding.

    • 2

      Create the individual drill-down reports. Follow a format that is similar to the one you used for your initial report. For example, if the initial page shows a pie chart of sales for all countries, your first-level drill-down might show a pie chart for each region within each country. Continue until you have reports on individual pages for each level of information.

    • 3

      Embed a hyperlink in the initial report page for each subsection of data that links to the drill-down report for that subsection. For example, embed a hyperlink in the "USA" slice that links to the pie chart that shows the regional distribution of sales within the U.S. Repeat with each subsequent drill-down level.

    • 4

      Add hyperlinks to previous levels of information on each page. Label the hyperlink "Back" so users can navigate back to broader levels of information.

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